^V OF PRINCf^
<^«).
.^^^
106ICAL SE\*^
BV 312 .BA 1915
Benson, Louis F. 1855-1930
The English hymn
THE ENGLISH HYMN
LOUIS F.BENSON
HYMNS
AND
Spiritual Songs,
la
fee BOOKS.
I. Colle£led from the Scriptures.
II. Compos'd on Divine Subjeds.
III. Prepared for the Lord's Supper.
With an ESSAY
Towards the Improvement of Chri-
ftian Plalmody^ by theUfe^of E-
vangeiical H^mns in WorMp^ as
well as the Pialiiis of Da'vld.
% J. WATTS.
Ani they fmg a new Song^ Jliyivgy Tboujirt
worthy^ 8cc. for thou waft ftain arid hafttS'
deemed us, &c. Rev. $. 9.
Soliti effent (i. e. Chri/iliini) convenire, car-
menque Chrifto quafi Deo (Jicere. PUnitfi
\n Epi(l. . ■■ ,. . .. .
LO N D O Ny '
Printed by jf. Humfreys^ for John LtwrencCf
at the Angel in the Poultvey, 1707.
facsimilk of the title pace of the original edition of doctor
watts' "hymns"
THE
ENGLISH HYMN
Its Development and
Use In Worship
LOUIS F. BENSON
D.D. (Penna.)
PHILADELPHIA
THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF
PUBLICATION
1915
Copyright, 1915, by
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PREFACE
It will be a part of our present task to show how rela-
tively modern a practice the singing of hymns is in the
Churches of our English tongue, and with what struggle
they won their place. To love hymns in eighteenth century
Scotland was to be accused of heresy; in England it was to
be convicted of that worse thing, "enthusiasm." "I gave
her privately a crown," wrote Dr. Johnson of a girl who
came to the sacrament in a bed-gown, "though I saw
Hart's hymns in her hand."^ What seemed memorable
to that kind heart was not his act of charity, but his having
surmounted on the occasion a churchman's rooted prejudice
against hymns. They bore the stamp of a clamorous dis-
sent, and it took the attrition of a protracted circulation to
rub off that mark. Not till after the middle of the nine-
teenth century did the English Hymn win the general
esteem which Germany had given to her hymns since the
Reformation.
To our literary critics it bears the mark of dissent still,
and they find it irksome to give to hymns the attention so
cheerfully bestowed on folk-poetry, ballads and lullabies.
Remembering that Cowper sometimes "reaches the sim-
plicity of greatness," says Dr. Schelling in his study of the
English Lyric,^ "we may accept . . . even the 'Olney
Hymns,' though we need not read them." For Watts,
whose noble hymn, "Our God, our Help in ages past," a
million Englishmen are singing with voices broken by the
strain of war, and for the Wesley s, whose songs might
almost be said to have deflected the current of English
history, the most that our critic is able to do, as he passes
on his singing way, is to accord them "the respect that
^Prayers and Meditations, Easter day, 1764: Works of Johnson,
Oxford, 1825, vol. ix, p. 221.
Telix E. Schelling, The English Lyric, Boston, 1913, p. 139.
V
vi PREFACE
honest devotional effort (even when versified) should
properly inspire." ^
We also, as best we may, shall have to consider in its
natural historical connections the question of the relations
to literature of an English Hymnody that has proved so
virile. Indeed, the literature of power, whether a Wesley's
for the upbuilding of a Kingdom or a Kipling's for the
buttressing of an empire, is ever an unchartered libertine.
It will sometimes preach, while it pretends to sing, and
even tread on a critical canon or two as it hews its way to
men's hearts.
Just now we are not defending hymns but alleging the
circumstances making it inevitable that anything in the
line of a serious study of the English Hymn should be so
long deferred, and that our English Hymnology should lag
so far behind the German. Daniel Sedgwick, a self-taught
second-hand bookseller of London (i 814-1879), was ac-
tually the first collector of the hymn books, and to his little
shop in Sun-street, Bishopsgate, used to resort so many of
the editors as cared enough for the hymns they were han-
dling to inquire into their authorship and text. And yet in
a scientific age the collection and study of old psalm and
hymn books, which are the remains and record of the
spiritual life of contemporaneous Christians, would seem
just as rational as the collection and classification of fossil
shells, which are the remains and record of the animal life
of contemporaneous mollusca. "Really it has awakened,"
wrote a reader of one of the ensuing chapters, "the sus-
picion that there is no better point of view from which to
study the development and the reactions of Christian belief
than that offered by Hymnody. This is not strange; for
after all beliefs of the first rate in influence receive and, I
have the impression, always have received their best and
final embodiment in poetry and especially lyric poetry."
Once begun the serious study of English Hymns has
proceeded rapidly enough. In the eighth edition of the
^Ibid., p. 136.
PREFACE
Vll
Encyclopedia Britannica the whole subject of Hymns cov-
ered only two pages, which in the ninth edition expanded
to eighteen. And by 1892 a considerable company of
investigators made possible the publication of Dr. John
Julian's A Dictionary of Hymnology ; since when the sources
and history of most of our hymns (though not their text)
have been rescued from what in many cases was a very
teasing obscurity.
In recognition of the new study, and with a venturous
hope of contributing to its advancement, The Faculty of
The Theological Seminary at Princeton in 1903 invited the
present writer to deliver a course of lectures on the L. P.
Stone Foundation upon a subject connected with Hymnol-
ogy. He decided, with their approval, to go back to the
very beginnings of Congregational Song in that branch of
the Church with which the Seminary is allied, and to trace
the origins, development and decline of the practice of
singing metrical Psalm versions which became the charac-
teristic feature of worship in the Reformed Churches of
various tongues. The lectures, were delivered in February,
1907, under the title, "The Psalmody of the Reformed
Churches." *
Soon afterward an invitation came for a second course
of lectures. And it seemed natural to resume the history
of Congregational Song at the point where the former
course had left it, and to take up the subsequent or hymn
singing period in the Churches that most concern us, those
that speak our English tongue. The second course was
delivered in February, 1910, under the title, "The Hymnody
of the English-speaking Churches." This second course
of lectures was reconstructed and rewritten to a larger scale,
and printed in The Princeton Theological Review in the
July number of 1910 and during the years 1912-1914. Once
more revised and partly rewritten in the unending struggle
*0f these the first, upon the Psalmody of the Calvinistic Reforma-
tion, was printed with additions in The Journal of The Presbyterian
Historical Society for March, June, and September, 1909.
viii PREFACE
after accuracy, expanded and rounded out in an attempt
to cover the entire field, they form the contents of the
present volume.
The change in the title of the book from that of the
lectures is made for the sake of lucidity. It implies no
change in the theme, the point of view, or the method of
treatment; and it is as well that these should be set forth
as clearly as may be. There are of course more ways than
one of treating the English Hymn historically. The most
obvious is to take up the writers of hymns chronologically,
to group them in periods, and to treat their lives and writ-
ings consecutively. This is to deal with Hymnody as a
minor branch of lyrical poetry, and to apply to it the
familiar method of the "Manual of English Literature."
The method is handy and gives us a conspectus of hymn
writing that for some purposes is useful. Nevertheless the
fact that most hymn writers are studiously ignored in the
manuals of English Literature themselves seems to suggest
either that the theme is a very insignificant one or else that
something is wanting in the manner of its presentation.
The truth is that if the methods of the literary historian
are not misapplied to Hymnody, they are at least inade-
quate. A hymn may or may not happen to be literature ;
in any case it is something more. Its sphere, its motive,
its canons and its use are different. It belongs with the
things of the spirit, in the sphere of religious experience
and communion with God. Its special sphere is worship,
and its fundamental relations are not literary but liturgical.
Of all definitions of the Hymn that which claims least
for it best defines it : — it is liturgical verse. In the daily
service book of the old Latin Church the Hymnus was the
versified part of the Divine Office, and our democratic ideals
of worship have changed neither its definition^ nor function.
°To apply the word Hymn to some strangely interlaced passages of
rhythmical prose in the service books of the Greek Church, and to
the prose Te Deum and canticles of the English Prayer Book, is
convenient but need not be misleading. We speak of the "prose poems"
of a Carlyle without aflfecting the definition of poetry.
PREFACE ix
The English Hymn gains its historical significance and its
present importance from its inclusion in the hymnal that is
put into the hands of the people as the authorized vehicle of
their common praise in our Protestant Churches. And the
whole body of hymns that have been or are so included
constitutes "The Hymnody of the English-speaking
Churches."
This point of view is sedulously maintained in the
present book, and determines its method. Hymnody is
regarded as the later phase of Protestant Church Song.
We shall endeavor to show how far the Hymn was from
the mind of Churches given over to the custom of psalm
singing, and how as that mind was turning toward hymns,
they began to shape themselves out of devotional poetry
on the one hand and metrical psalms on the other; how
one strong will took control of the situation, fixed the
definite type of the English Hymn, and engineered a move-
ment to introduce it into public worship. We shall follow
the fortunes of this movement and also study the develop-
ment of the Hymn itself, as with succeeding generations
fresh minds came to deal with it and new religious and
literary forces and influences successively played upon it.
Our special concern is to follow down the main stream
of Hymnody and of hymn singing from its springs to its
present fulness. But no by-stream of Hymnody has been
consciously neglected. Some of these denominational
hymnodies are no more than canals cut to carry the waters
of the main stream to a new territory, but others are inlets
through which new springs enrich the main current. In
any case they are of interest to the dwellers along their
shores ; and we have set up sign-boards at the various points
of junction so that readers intent to follow the main stream
need not be diverted.
It will be evident that for the purposes of such a study
the hymn books in actual use in the different Churches at
various times become our principal sources, and that they,
with the proceedings of the authoritative bodies in the
X PREFACE
several denominations and the lives and works of the hymn
writers, constitute the materials which we have to handle.
The recovery of these materials, notably of the hymn
books, from the litter of the past is no light task; and it is
only after twenty-five years of assiduous collecting that
the present writer has ventured to bring his studies to so
much of a conclusion as is here attained. He can at least
aver that he has dealt with his sources at first hand.
With this understanding of the importance attached to
hymn books, it will seem natural that the full titles of so
many of them should be run into the text as a part of the
narrative rather than relegated to a "bibliography." It may
be that these, together with an abundance of foot-notes, ap-
pear to be so many snags in the course of fluent reading.
But to an inquiring mind foot-notes are likely to prove the
better part of a book; and even the gentle reader should
learn to accept them as a pledge of good faith. Many books
would never have been printed had their authors felt obliged
to disclose their sources and authorities. It might too be
urged that foot-notes, used judiciously, serve to relieve the
narrative from an ever impending dulness; and dulness is
a fault which author and reader might well conspire to be
rid of at any cost save the sacrifice of precision: for in-
accuracy is more than a fault, it is a sin.
If the writer were more confident of having pursued a
way, in part untrodden, in the spirit of wholesome scholar-
ship, he would have liked to dedicate his book to the
reverend and learned Faculty of The Theological Seminary
at Princeton, whose sympathy and encouragement helped
toward its undertaking and have acted as a spur to its
completion.
March, ipi5.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN
PAGE
I. Introductory: Psalmody and Hymnody 19
1. Early Religious Lyrics in English 19
2. Congregational Song as a Church Ordinance 20
3. Psalmody and Hymnody as Rival Systems of Congrega-
tional Song 21
4. The English-speaking Peoples become Psalm Singers .... 25
II. The Hymns appended to the Metrical Psalters (1561-1635)
NOT THE Nucleus of an English Hymnody 26
1. The Hymns Appended to the English Psalter 27
2. The Hymns Appended to the Scottish Psalter 32
III. The Promise of an English Hymnody by Translating the
old Latin Church Hymns (1538- 1559) fails 37
IV. The Evolution of the English Hymn from the Metrical
Psalm 45
(i) By way of improving its literary character 46
(2) By accommodating its contents to present circumstances . 51
(3) By extending the principle of Paraphrase to other parts
of the Bible 55
V. The Evolution of the English Hymn from Devotional
Poetry 63
1. Lack of the Hymnic Motive in pre-Restoration Poets,
except Wither 63
2. The new Hymn Writing (1664-1693): the Predecessors of
Watts 68
CHAPTER II
THE LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS
I. The Denominational Divisions of Church Song at the
Restoration (1660) 73
II. John Playford leads a movement to introduce Hymn
Singing in the Reestablished Church (1671-1708).. 75
III. Richard Baxter leads a movement to introduce Hymns ^_
AMONG the Ejected Presbyterians (1661-1708) (82J
IV. The Attitude of the Separatists 91
1. The General Baptists oppose "Promiscuous Singing". ... 91
2. The Society of Friends excludes "Conjoint Singing" 94
xi
xii CONTENTS
PAGE
3. Benjamin Keach introduces Hymns among the Particular
Baptists 96
4. The Independents join with the Presbyterians in intro-
ducing Hymns loi
CHAPTER in
DOCTOR WATTS' "RENOVATION OF PSALMODY"
I. His Proposal of an Evangelical "System of Praise" (1707). 108
II. His Fulfilment: "Watts's Psalms and Hymns" 113
III. His Success: The Era of Watts 122
I. In England 122
1. He dominates the worship of the Independents. . . 122
2. His ascendency over the Presbyterians terminates in
a Unitarian Hymnody 130
3. His ascendency over the Baptists leads up to a
Homiletical Hymnody 142
II. In Scotland 147
1. His Influence: the "Translations and Paraphrases"
(1745-1781) 147
2. Early Scottish Hymn Singing 154
CHAPTER IV
DR. WATTS' "RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" (Continued)
IV. His Success: The Era of Watts in America 161
I. The Congregationalists (1735-1834) 161
1. The Great Awakening turns the Churches to his
Evangelical "System of Praise" 161
2. An American School of Church Music 169
3. The Liberals compile "Non-Trinitarian" Hymn
Books (1753-1823) 172
II. The Presbyterians (1739-1827) 177
1. "New Side" Churches venture to sing Watts' "Im-
itations" 177
2. The Great "Psalmody Controversy" 186
3. Hymn Singing under the new (1788) "Directory
for Worship" 191
III. The Baptists (1754-1827) 196
1. Their gradual Adoption of Watts' "Psalms and
Hymns" 196
2. Obstacles to Watts' Ascendency 198
(i) Their desire for denominational Hymn Books 198
(2) Their predilection for "Spiritual Songs". . . 201
V. His Influence upon the English Hymn 205
He was not "the Inventor of Hymns in our Language". . . . 205
CONTENTS xiii
PAGE
But established a definite type of Congregational Hymn. . . . 207
Its sphere — the Common Ground of Experience 207
Its form — evolved from the Metrical Psalm 207
Its content — not the paraphrase of Scripture but an evan-
gelical response to it 208
VI. His Influence upon Hymn Writing: the School of Watts 210
VII. His Influence upon Hymn Singing 216
He led in the establishment of Congregational Hymn Sing-
ing in the stead of Psalm Singing 216
J I.
/ CHAPTER V
'' THE HYMNODY OF THE METHODIST REVIVAL
Its Antecedents and Beginnings (1721-1738) 219 _'
■^ I. John Wesley aims to uplift Parochial Psalmody 219 — X* *^ *"-
2. The Moravians reveal to him the spiritual potentiality
of the Hymn 223
3. He makes Hymn Books as a missionary, and as an asso-
ciate of Moravians 225
J II. The Methodist Hymnody (i 739-1904) 228
1. The "Movement," and Charles Wesley as its Poet 228
2. Hymn Books for "The People called Methodists" 235
^ III. The Methodist Singing 239
1. John Wesley as Music-master 239
2. The new Type of Congregational Song 241
- IV. The Part of the Wesleys in the Development of the
English Hymn 244
1. Their great enrichment of Hymnody: by writing, trans-
lating, and editing 244
2. Their Modification of the Ideal of the Hymn 247
(i) The Evangelistic Hymn (3^7)
(2) The fervid Hymn of Individual Experience 248
(3) The Churchly Hymn 251
(4) The new Poetic Standard of Hymnody 252
V. The Wesleyan Hymns in the Church at Large 255
The fervid Hymn singing does not spread into the Churches. 256
Obstacles to the Diffusion of the Hymns 256
(i) The body of the Hymns ill-adapted to general use. . . 257
(2) The "Reproach of Methodism" precludes a general
knowledge of them 257
CHAPTER VI
"^ THE HYMNODY OF THE METHODIST REVIVAL (Continued)
VI. The Moravian Hymnody 262
I. After the Breach with Wesley the Moravians develop an
eccentric Hymnody (1741-1754) 262
xiv CONTENTS
PAGE
2. Wesley repudiates it (1749) 267
3. The Normal Period of Moravian Hymnody (1789-1901). 270
VII. Deflexions of Methodist Song after Wesley's Death . . . 274
(1) The Methodist New Connexion (1796) 275
(2) Primitive Methodists (1809) 275
(3) United Methodist Free Churches (1827) 278
(4) Bible Christians (1819) 279
VIII. The Hymnody of American Methodism 280
1. Wesley's effort to control it (1784) 280
2. The Struggle between "Mr. Wesley's Hymns" and Pop-
ular Songs (1784-1848) 285
3. A New Type: The Camp Meeting Hymn (1800) (Chris-
tians and Cumberland Presbyterians) 291
4. Efforts to reinstate and to modernize the Wesleyan
Hymnody (1847-1905) 298
IX. Diverging Currents of American Methodist Hymnody . . . 305
(i) The Reformed Methodist Church (1814) 305
(2) The Methodist Society (1820) 306
(3) The African Methodist Episcopal Church (18 18) 306
(4) Methodist Protestants (1830) 307
(5) Wesleyan Methodists and Free Methodists (1843) 310
(6) Review of American Methodist Hymnody 310
Appendix — (7) The United Brethren in Christ (1826-1890) 312
(8) The Evangelical Association (1834-1877) 314
\ CHAPTER VII
^ THE HYMNODY OF THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL
-> I. In Whitefield's Circle (i74i-i;7o) 315
11. In Lady Huntingdon's Connexion (1764-1865) 319
HI. Some By-Streams of the Hymnody (1748-1808) 325
IV. In the Church of England (1760-1819) 328
1. Introduction of Hymn Singing by the early Evangelicals
(1760-1776) 328
2. "Olney Hymns" (1779) fills out the Type of the Evan-
gelical Hymn 336
3. Movements to introduce Hymns in the main body of the
Church (1724-1816) 340
(i) The Stand-fasts 340
(2) The less extreme Conservatives 341
(3) Hymn Books for private use 342
(4) Hymn Books of the London Charities 343
(5) Hymns within the covers of the Prayer Book 345
4. The Period of Compromise: "Psalms and Hymns" in
Parish Churches (1785-1819) 349
CONTENTS XV
CHAPTER VIII
- THE EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA
PAGE
I. Its adoption delayed by various causes 358
II. Its use by the Baptists 361
1. Its early welcome among Regular Baptists (1790- 18 50) . . 361
2. Diverging currents of Baptist Hymnody 366
(i) Freewill Baptists (1797) 366
(2) The Dunkers (1791) 367
(3) The Mennonites 368
(4) The Church of God (1825) 369
(5) The Disciples of Christ (1827) 370
III. Making its way into Congregational and Presbyterian
Churches 372
1. The Era of Revival (1790-1832): "Village Hymns" 372
2. The Era of Compromise (1828-1857): "Psalms and
Hymns" 380
(i) Presbyterian Psalms and Hymns (1831) 380
(2) Old school Psalms and Hymns (1843) 382
(3) New school Psalms and Hymns (1843) 383
(4) Presbyterian Hymnody in the *40's 386
(5) Congregationalist Psalms and Hymns (1836-1845). 388
IV. Hymn Singing in the Protestant Episcopal Church 390
1. The Beginning of Hymn Singing (1786) 390
2. The Evangelical Period (1789-1858) 396
V. English Hymns in THE Reformed Dutch Church (1767-1868) 402
VI. English Hymns in the German Reformed Church (1800-
858) 408
VII. English Hymns in the Lutheran Church (1756-1859). . . . 410
VIII. Diverse Currents of Hymnody 420
1. Early Universalist Hymns (1776-1849) 421
2. Swedenborgian Hymnody (1792- 1830) 426
3. "Shaker Music" (1774-1893) 427
4. Adventist Hymns (1843-1887) 428
5. Mormon Hymns (1830-1891) 431
CHAPTER IX
V^THE HYMNODY OF THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT
I. The Literary Hymn 435
II. Reginald Heber's Romantic Hymnal (1827) 437
III. The Literary Movement in England 443
I. In the Church of England 443
1. It is overshadowed by the Liturgical Movement. . . 443
2. A later Literary School (i 862-1 899) 446
xvi CONTENTS
PAGE
II. James Martineau provides Unitarians with a "Poetry
of pure Devotion" (1840) 449
III. The Baptists cHng to a Homiletical Hymnody (1827-
1879) 451
IV. The Enrichment of Congregationalist Hymnody 453
1. The Ministers of Leeds break the Watts tradition
(1853) 453
2. The Rivulet Controversy (1856) 454
3. The Advance toward Heber's Ideal: Loss and
Gain (1859-1887) 456
IV. The Literary Movement in America 460
I. "Songs of the Liberal Faith" 460
1. A notable series of Hymn Books (1830- 1864). . . . 460
2. Unitarian Hymnody (1830-1864) 468
3. Modern Tendencies (1861-1894) 470
II. The Enrichment of Congregationalist and Pres-
byterian Hymnody is left to private enterprise. 473
1 . Henry Ward Beecher leads the movement for Con-
gregational Singing (1851) 473
2. The Enrichment of Hymnody for Homiletical Ends
(1855-1858) 474
3. The New Type of Church Hymnal (1855) 477
4. Dr. Robinson's popular Hymnals (1862-1875). . . . 478
III. Other Denominations follow the Unitarian Lead. 480
1. "The Christian Hymn Book" (1863) 480
2. The new Universalist Hymnody (1846-1895) 481
s.' V. The Offset: The "Gospel Hymn" (1851 to date) 482
1
CHAPTER X
THE HYMNODY OF THE OXFORD REVIVAL
I. It dominates the Church of England 493
1. The Movement to restore the "primitive" Church
Hymnody (1833) 493
2. The Result: the Liturgical Hymn 497
3. Early Tractarian Hymnals: John Mason Neale (1836-
1858) 500
4. The Emergence of "Hymns Ancient and Modern" (1861) 506
5. The Anglican Hymnody and Church Music 514
II. Oxford Influences on the Hymnody of English Dissent. . 522
1. Liturgical Ideals in Congregationalist and Baptist Wor-
ship (1861-1900) 522
2. The Presbyterians enrich Anglican Music (1866) 525
3. Catholic Apostolic Hymnody (1864) 528
4. Swedenborgian Hymnody (1790- 1880) 529
CONTENTS xvii
PAGE
III. Oxford Influences in Scotland and Ireland: Presby-
terian Hymn Singing 530
1. The Changes in United_PresbyterianHymnody (1848-1877) 530
2. The Hymnody of the Kirk faUs into the hands .of the
Liturgical Party (1845-1885) 531
3. The Free Church remodels its Hymn Book (1882) 536
4. Scottish Hymn Writing 537
5. Unauthorized Hymn Singing by Irish Presbyterians (1830-
1894) 539
6. The movement for a Common Hymnal yields to Oxford
Influences (1870-1898) 540
IV. Oxford Influences on American Hymnody 543
1. The Appeal of the Latin Hymn (1840-1861) 543
2. Hymns Ancient and Modern in the Protestant Episcopal
Church (1859-1892) 544
3. The Liturgical Controversy in the German Reformed
Church (1857) 548
4. The new Reformed Dutch Hymnody (1868-1891) 550
5. Hymns Ancient and Modern in the Presbyterian Church
(186^1895) 551
6. A new type of Congregationalist Hymnal (1887-1893). . . 557
7. The Baptists maintain the Homiletical Type till the Cen-
tury's End 558
8. The Lutherans develop a churchly Hymnody (1863-1899). 560
9. Anglican Hymnody accommodated to the "New Church"
(1863-1911) 563
CHAPTER XI
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY
I. The Influences that have moulded it 565
II. How far affected by modern evangelism 567
III. Its more exacting literary standard 567
IV. Its reversion to a motive more strictly devotional 570
V. Its Theology 574
1 . Changing religious thought makes this a Period of Revision. 574
2. The New Theology demands a new Hymnody 578
VI. The Hymnody of Social Democracy 584
Index 591
CHAPTER I
THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN
I
INTRODUCTORY: PSALMODY AND HYMNODY
I. Early Religious Lyrics in English
There were English hymns long before the Reforma-
tion. Carol singing was brought over from France at a
very early date, and by the Xlllth century the Norman
carols began to give way to those in English, often retain-
ing the French refrain, and introducing Latin lines taken
mostly from the church service. The Carol was devoted
especially to rehearsing the events of the Nativity, but it
passed into spiritual lullabies and the Complaint of Mary,
or of Christ, on the one hand, and into secular songs of
the feasts and sports of Yule-tide on the other. Not carols
only but a variety of religious and ethical songs mingled
freely with those of an amorous or convivial or humorous
sort, sung in the markets, ale-houses and halls, and through
the country side, by the wandering minstrels, themselves
often in minor orders of the Church. Beside these were
the less homely hymns to Christ and the Virgin, and more
or less mystical devotional verses, such as were written in
the monasteries.
These early effusions must be classed as hymns, in our
familiar use of that word to designate religious lyrics. But
hymns, in the stricter sense of "church song" or "liturgical
verse," they were not in fact or in the minds of the clerks
who composed them; to whom a "Hymn" meant the stanzas
appointed to be read or sung in the Office for the day, of
course in the Latin language. The early religious lyrics
19
20 THE ENGLISH HYMN
have a very real interest of their own, and are doubtless
worthy of more attention than they have as yet received.^
But their connection with the English Hymnody after-
wards to be developed as the Church Song of Protestantism
is of the slightest. They did not furnish a foundation for
that Hymnody or give any promise of its coming. The
nearest approach to a bond of connection is found in the
Christmas Carol, which before the Reformation was
allowed to be sung in parish churches in conjunction with
Christmas festivities, and which, rather by revival than
survival, is making its way into Protestant Church
Hymnody.
But between this modern Church Hymnody and the old
religious English lyrics lies the deep chasm of the Reforma-
tion, with its breach in church order, and the fresh start on
the Protestant side, under democratic ideals of worship, of
a people singing songs in their own tongue. The Latin
Hymn sung by the choir is the expression of the old order
and ideals; the Congregational Hymn sung by the people
in the vernacular is equally typical of the new.
2. Congregational Song as a Church Ordinance
The Congregational Hymn is thus distinctively the child
of the Reformation, and indeed its paternity is quite com-
monly ascribed to Luther himself. Such ascription is not
in accordance with the facts. The singing of religious songs
by the people began to play its part in different localities
on the continent of Europe, with the first stirring of the
new life in the Western Church that culminated in the
Reformation of the XVIth century. With the gathering
'Prof. F. M. Padelford's chapter on "Transition English Song Col-
lections" in The Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. ii,
1908, was something of a novelty in such a connection. The appended
bibliography includes many of the printed sources of the songs. For
the Carol, see Edmondstoune Duncan, The Story of the Carol, London,
191 1 ; and Thos. Helmore in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, Lon-
don, 2nd ed., 1907, art. "Carols," and supplement, p. 1619.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 21
of the followers of John Hus in Bohemia into congrega-
tions, popular song becomes definitely Congregational Song.
A vernacular Hymnody of considerable proportions was
created by the Hussites, and provided with suitable melodies.
These hymns and tunes were embodied in books designed
for the worshippers' hands rather than for the choir. Thus
the congregational hymn-book of the modern type had its
origin, and congregational singing of hymns took its place
as a recognized part of the new kind of worship.^
The foundations of Congregational Song as a church
ordinance were therefore laid before the beginnings of the
Reformation in Germany under Luther and in Switzerland
under Calvin. Congregational Song must be regarded as the
liturgical expression of principles common to Protestantism,
that were embodied in Lutheranism and Calvinism alike.
It is of course true that Congregational Song received a
great impulse and development from Luther's hands, and
that his work in establishing it claims the priority over
Calvin's, upon whom Luther's success doubtless exercised
marked influence. But Congregational Song cannot be
rightly regarded as the distinctive possession of either sys-
tem, nor can it be fairly claimed that the one reformer
showed more zeal in establishing it than the other.
3. Psalmody and Hymnody as Rival Systems of
Congregational Song
We have now to note and to explain the fact that while
congregational singing was as much a feature of the new
Protestantism in England and Scotland as in Germany, it
nevertheless happened that German Protestantism proceeded
at once to develop a rich German Hymnody, whereas there
was no English Hymnody in any effective sense until the
'The earliest recorded hymn book of the Bohemian Brethren bears
the date 1505. For their Hymnody see Edmund de Schweinitz, The
History of the Church known as The Unitas Fratrum, 2nd ed., Beth-
lehem, Pa., 1901 ; and J. T. Mueller in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnol-
ogy, art. "Bohemian Hymnody."
22 THE ENGLISH HYMN
XVnith century. It happened so in brief because the
Churches in England and Scotland in arranging for the
participation of the people in the service of praise, adopted
the model set up by Calvin in Geneva as over against that
set up by Luther. The practical effect of this was, in a
word, that both the English and Scottish Churches became
psalm singers as distinguished from hymn singers. The
Metrical Psalm was thus the substitute for the Hymn in
England and Scotland, and became the effective obstacle to
the production and use of English hymns.
To understand the ground of this supremacy of the
Psalm, and the suppression of the Hymn involved in it, we
must go back to the minds of the two great leaders of the
Reformation, antagonistic as they were in temperament and
taste and divided in many matters of principle. Their
diverse points of view are nowhere more conspicuous than
in their conceptions of Protestant worship ; and among other
issues thus raised was one regarded by each as of great
:^practical importance, — What shall the people be permitted
and encouraged to sing in public worship ?
/ In reconstructing the musical side of church worship two
/proclivities of his own strongly influenced Luther. One
was his love for the old German folk-song, for social sing-
ing and for the music of the household and family. The
other was his affectionate regard for the ritual of the old
Church, especially the Latin hymns which for many cen-
turies had made a part of the Daily Office. The utility
of their metrical form was obvious. And the fact that
hymns were free compositions, not confined to Scriptural
paraphrase, constituted no objection to them in Luther's
mind, but on the other hand suggested an opportunity of
filling the Hymn-Form with the doctrines and inspira-
tions of the new evangel. Luther adopted without hesita-
tion the Metrical Hymn of human composition as a
permanent element of his cultus. And he provided German
hymns set to suitable tunes, and put the hymn books into
the hands of the people. From the beginning, therefore.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 23
Lutheran song became Hymnody in the narrower sense of
the word. This Lutheran Hymnody was based indiscrim"^
inately on Scripture, the Latin and Hussite hymns, popular
songs, and the thoughts and feehngs of the writer. And
from Luther's time to the present the composition of German
hymns has proceeded without a break, and their congre-
gational use has continued to be a characteristic feature
of Lutheran worship.
Calvin on the other hand was impressed with the frivolity^
of current French song, and impatient of any melody in
any wise associated with it. To the music of the old Church
and its elaborate ritual he was possibly indifferent by tem-
perament, but certainly hostile through a conscientious con-
viction that it was a purely human contrivance and the
scaffolding of a merely formal religion. In arranging a
worship for the Reformed Church he proposed to ignore
the historical development of worship in the Latin Church,
and to reinstate the simpler conditions of the primitive
Church. He would have nothing in the cultus which could
not claim the express authority of Scripture. He found
Scriptural precedent for the ordinance of Congregational
Song, and saw the advantage of the metrical hymn- form.
But the Church's imprimatur on the "Hymn of human
composure" gave it no sanctity in his mind. And the
Breviary itself showed how readily the Hymn served as the
embodiment of false doctrine. And so, without denying
the breadth of St. Paul's allowance of "Psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs," and without denying the Church's
right to make its own hymns, he rested upon the propo^
sition that there could be no better songs than the inspired
songs of Scripture. He established the precedent of Churcii
Song taken from the word of God itself, and practically
confined to the canonical Psalms. The authority of Calvin's
opinion and example was such that the usage of singing
metrical psalms as instituted at Geneva followed the spread
of Calvinistic doctrine through the world as a recognized
feature of church order. It became as characteristic of
24 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the Reformed cultus as hymn singing was of the Lutheran
cultus.
/" The new Protestant Church Song was thus from the
first divided into two separate streams, having Luther and
Calvin as their respective sources, and differing in their
vactual contents. If we attempt to put this new Protestant
song in relation to the service of praise in the historic
cultus of the Latin Church which it replaced, it appears that
the Lutheran Hymnody and the Reformed Psalmody agree
in taking the service of praise out of the hands of the choir
and restoring it to the congregation, and, with that end in
view, in rendering it in the vernacular tongue. But the
Lutheran Hymn must be regarded as the lineal successor of
the Latin hymns of the Breviary, and as carrying forward
the usage of hymn singing without a break. The Calvinistic
psalm, on the other hand, would have to be regarded as
the lineal successor of the old church Psalmody, — that ren-
dering of the Latin prose Psalter in stated portions which
constituted the main feature of the Daily Office. It is true
that the Calvinistic psalm was run into the mould of the
metrical hymn, and being a metrical formula of congrega-
tional praise, it may be called a hymn, in the larger sense of
that word. But in reality it marked a breach with the
extra-Biblical Hymnody of the Western Church, and of the
Hussites and Lutherans. It represented a popularization
of the old church Psalmody that offered itself as a substi-
tute for Hymnody, whether old or new. Henceforward, for
two centuries and a half at least, the Hymn and the Metri-
cal Psalm stand side by side as representing clearly differ-
entiated and even opposing systems of congregational
Church Song.^
^The necessity of marking this distinction is the justification of the
word "Hymnody," even though objected to by purists as lacking the
highest sanction. Philologically "Hymnody" would seem to be the
analogue of "Psalmody," and practically would seem to be a necessity
to express the practice of singing hymns, and also the body of the
hymns thus sung. The current employment of "Psalmody" to express
these things simply ignores the history of two centuries, and obscures
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 25
4. The English-speaking Peoples Become Psalm
Singers
Which of these contrasting types of Church Song was to
establish itself among English-speaking peoples was at first
by no means clear. Both in England and Scotland the
impulse behind the early Reformation movement was
Lutheran, and in each country the leaders endeavored to
forward the movement by means of religious songs of
Lutheran type, and in part derived from Lutheran sources.
In England this effort was ineffective. Some years
later than 1531 Myles Coverdale issued the first English
hymn-book, his Goostly Psahnes and Spirituall Songcs
drawen out of the holy Scripture, based on the Witten-
berg hymn books. These dull songs made little appeal to the
people, and at the same time they were in advance of the
limits of the scheme of reform then proposed by Henry
VIII. In 1546 the King put the Goostly Psalmcs among the
prohibited books, and brought its ineffectual career to an end,
the facts : and when, as by some recent writers, the word "Psalmody"
is actually applied to the body of the tunes to which hymns are sung,
we seem to reach a point at which the article exhibited and the label
attached to it have no obvious connection. English writers in general,
dealing specifically with hymns, have used the word "Hymnology" to
describe the collective body of them or some part of it. Thus James
King gathers the body of hymns in widest use in the Church of
England under the title Anglican Hymnology (London, 1885) ; and,
as if to prove that we have not misunderstood him, entitles his first
chapter "History of Ancient and Mediaeval Hymnology." When Mr.
Courthope tells us (^A History of English Poetry, vol. v, London, 1905,
pp. 328, 336), that "Hymnology had its rise among the Nonconform-
ists," and that "the style of English Hymnology reaches its highest
level" in certain hymns of Dr. Watts, we may not question the law-
fulness of his use of the terms but we must affirm its inexpediency.
When we have gathered our specimens from the quarry or mine, we
have not gathered its "mineralogy" but its minerals, from which the
brain and not the hand must construct their mineralogy. Just so,
dealing at present with the English Hymn and its liturgical use, it
would appear that the word "Hymnody" describes the materials for
our study; and that the word "Hymnology" expresses rather that
ordered knowledge of hymns to which a study such as ours may be
expected to contribute.
26 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In Scotland, on the other hand, Coverdale's contem-
poraries, the Wedderburns, successfully introduced among
the people hymns and songs based on Lutheran models.
These played a great part in the development of the Refor-
mation, down to and beyond the formal organization of the
Reformed Church of Scotland.^
But in both countries the influence of Calvin prevailed
over that of Luther, and determined among other things
the form of Church Song. The Scottish Church, under
Knox's influence, discarded the Wedderburn Hymnody and
adopted the Genevan system of Metrical Psalmody into its
constitution. The English Church adopted Metrical Psal-
mody just as effectively, but less formally, as something not
provided for in the Prayer Book system, but yet "allowed"
to adhere to the margin of that system. Practically both
English-speaking Churches entered upon an era of psalm
singing which was to be little disturbed through two
centuries.
II
THE HYMNS APPENDED TO THE METRICAL
PSALTERS (1561-1635) NOT THE NUCLEUS
OF AN ENGLISH HYMNODY
And yet neither in England nor Scotland was the psalm
book which was put into the hands of the people confined
exclusively to canonical Psalms. In both countries the
authorized Psalter included not only a complete metrical
*We have regarded the Coverdale episode in England and that of the
Wedderburns in Scotland as belonging logically and chronologically to
the earlier movement to establish Psalmody rather than to the later
movement to establish Hymnody. Their fuller treatment falls there-
fore within the scope of the history of Metrical Psalmody. There is an
accessible reprint of Coverdale's book (without the music) in the
Parker Society's edition of his Remains (Cambridge, 1846). Of the
Wedderburn book there is David Laing's annotated reprint (Edinburgh,
1868), and Dr. A. F. Mitchell's more elaborate edition of The gude and
godlie Ballatis for the Scottish Text Society (1897). See also his The
Wedderburns and their work (Edinburgh and London, 1867).
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 27
version of the Psalms but also an appended group, relatively
small, of hymns and metrical paraphrases of other Scrip-
tural passages and Prayer Book materials.
This common feature, as also the identity of much of
the contents of the two Psalters, is explained by the fact
that they had a common origin. Both Psalters represent
the carrying forward in their respective countries, on some-
what differing lines, of the work begun by the Marian exiles
at Geneva. Knox, Whittingham and others of the Puritan
party of exiles who were deeply under Calvin's influence,
were particularly impressed by the psalm singing he had set
up in his little French congregation. In preparing a service
book for their own people to take the place of the Prayer
Book,^ they determined to introduce psalm singing, and
began the preparation of an English psalm book, of which
Calvin's French Psalter was inevitably the model. But even
at Geneva, the fountain head of Metrical Psalmody, the
addiction to psalms was not absolutely exclusive. The first
edition of Calvin's Genevan Psalter (1542) included
metrical versions of the Song of Simeon, the Command-
ments, the Lord's Prayer and the Creed; in the complete
and final form of the Psalter (1562) the outside material
consisted of the Song of Simeon and Commandments versi-
fied and two metrical graces at meals. There was thus no
departure from Genevan precedent made by including hymns
in the English and Scottish Psalters; but in each case the
appended hymns were more numerous and more diverse,
and demand examination especially as to the actual sig-
nificance of their appearance there.
I. The Hymns Appended to the English Psalter
The nucleus of the English Psalter, the earliest psalm
book of the exiles at Geneva, was annexed to their Forme
^The forme of prayers and ministration of the sacraments, &c.,
vsed in the Englishe Congregation at Geneua: and approued by the
famous and godly learned man, John Caluyn. Imprinted at Geneua
by John Crespin, M.D.LVI.
28 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of prayers of 1556 already referred to as One and fiftie
Psalnies of Dauid in Englishe metre, and beyond the
psalms contained only the Commandments versified by
Whittingham. Not only the progress of the Psalter itself
but also a gradual increase in the number of appended pieces
is traced through the earliest surviving English-printed
edition of 1560, and in English and Genevan editions both
of 1561.
The English Psalter (commonly called Sternhold and
Hopkins, or the Old Version) appeared in its completed
form from the press of John Day at London, with a title
not without significance for our inquiry : The whole Booke
of Psalmes, collected into Englysh metre by T. Starnhold,
I. Hopkins & others: conferred with the Ehrue, with apt
Notes to sing them withal, Faithfully perused and alowed
according to thordre appointed in the Quenes maiesties
Iniunctions. Very mete to he vsed of all sortes of people
priuatcly for their solace & comfort: laying apart all vn-
godly Songes and Ballades, which tende only to the norish-
ing of vyce, and corrupting of youth. [Followed by two
texts and imprint]. An. 1562.
Included in this Psalter, sharing such authorization as it
had, are two groups of metrical hymns, one immediately
preceding and one following the "PSALMS OF DAVID."
In the preliminary edition of 1561 they had numbered seven-
teen, in the completed edition of 1562 they number nine-
teen, and in editions immediately succeeding they attain a
total of twenty-three pieces. In the edition of 1562 the
hymns are as follows :
Before the Psalms —
1. Vent Creator. "Come Holy Ghost eternal God."
[Venite. In 1562 there is only a reference to Ps. 95 as serving for
the Venite of 1561.]
2. Te Deum. "We praise thee God."
3. Benedicite. "O all ye works of God the lord."
4. Benedictus. "The only lorde of Israel."
5. Magnificat. "My soule doth magnifye the Lord."
6. Nunc dimittis. "O Lord be cause my harts desire."
7. Creed of Athanasius. "What man soeuer he be that."
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 29
8. Lamentation of a Sinner. "O Lord turn not away thy face."
9. Humble Sute of the Sinner. "O Lorde of whom I do depend."
10. Lord's Prayer (D. C. M.). "Our father which in heauen art."
11. Commandments (D. C. M.). "Hark Israel, and what 1 say."
After the Psalms —
1. Commandments (L. M.). "Attend my people and geue eare" :
followed by "A Prayer."
2. Lord's Prayer (8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8.). "Our father which in heauen art."
3. XII Articles of the Faith. "All my belief, and confidence."
4. A Prayer before Sermon. "Come holie spirit the God of might."
5. Da pacem. "Giue peace in these our daies O Lord."
6. The Lamentation. "O Lord in thee is all my trust."
7. Thanksgiving after receiving the Lord's Supper. "The Lord be
thanked for his gifts."
8. "Preserue vs Lord by thy deare word."
In succeeding editions the Venite of 1561 ("O come and
let vs now reioyce") was restored and the following ad-
ditional hymns appeared :
1. Before Morning Prayer. "Prayse the Lord O ye Gentiles all."
2. Before Evening Prayer. "Behold now geue heede suche as be."
3. Complaint of a Sinner. "Where rightuousnesse doth say."
All but two of the hymns of 1562 have their "proper
tunes" provided : in the remaining cases suitable tunes are
indicated. We have thus before us what seems at first
sight a not inconsiderable provision for congregational use
in the Church of England of hymns as distinguished from
psalms. But there are some considerations tending to
modify this impression. It was, in the first place, a famil-
iar device at the time to cast in metrical form, and set to
music, doctrinal or other material for use by the people.
This was partly with a view to furnish religious songs and
partly to assist the memory to retain things regarded as
desirable for the people to know, and was independent of
the question of what should be sung in church. There
was, in the second place, no hesitation on the part of the
compilers of the early Psalters in joining to the Psalm
versions matter intended for such private use. Witness the
graces for the family meal in the Genevan Psalter, the
treatise on music and "A Forme of Prayer to bee vsed in
30 THE ENGLISH HYMN
priuate houses euery Morning and Euening" in the Eng-
lish Psalter of 1562. And, in the third place, it appears
from the title pages of the English Psalter that it was in-
tended for use outside of church. The title of the editions
of 1 561-1562 contained the words: "Very mete to be vsed
of all sorts of people priuately." It was not until 1566
that the title page of the Psalter claimed authorization for
its use in church.^
It is then obvious that the presence of these hymns in
the English Psalter does not of itself imply, either in inten-
tion or in fact, their use in the church services. As to the
actual significance of their inclusion one must form his
own conclusions.
Turning first to the prefixed hymns, the Prayer Book
complexion of the whole group is at once apparent. If
we regard the "Lamentation" and "Humble Sute" as rep-
resenting the elements of Confession of Sin and Prayer
for Pardon and Peace incorporated in the Order for Daily
Prayer in 1552, then the entire group represents The Book
of Common Prayer in the same way that the paraphrases
of Psalms represent the canonical Book of Psalms. We
judge it to be the work of the mediating party who wished
to remove the Genevan taint from the transplanted
Psalmody by mingling Prayer Book materials with the
Scriptural songs of the people. They may have found their
precedent in the Latin Psalters of the old Church, in which
canticles and the creed and Lord's Prayer were added to
the Psalter proper. That these paraphrases of Prayer Book
'In 1566 the title reads : — Newly e set foorth and alloived to bee soong
of the people together, hi Churches, before and after Morning and
Euening prayer: as also before and after the Sermon, and moreouer
in private houses. . . . But in this matter the opinion of many since
was voiced by George Wither in his pamphlet, The Scholar's Purgatory
(1624) : "that those metrical Psalms were never commanded, to be used
in divine service, or in our public congregations, by any canon or ec-
clesiastical constitution, though many of the vulgar be of that opinion.
But whatsoever the Stationers do in their title page pretend to that
purpose, they being first allowed for private devotion only, crept into
public use by toleration rather than by command."
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 31
materials were intended for use in church services seems
unhkely from the point of view here suggested. There
is no evidence that they were so used except in so far as the
Puritans of that or a later period ventured to substitute
these metrical versions for the corresponding prose passages
in the required Prayer Book service; their aim being to
avoid the necessity of chanting them.
Turning to the affixed hymns the atmosphere is notably
different, and is plainly that of Strassburg, with its Lu-
theran hymnody. The version of the Lord's Prayer (by
Dr. Cox) is a rendering of Luther's metrical version and
is set to his tune. The "Da Pacem" is a close translation
of Wolfgang Capito's German hymn ("Gieb Fried zu unser
Zeit, O Herr"), made by Edmund Grindal, a Marian exile
at Strassburg. The last hymn of 1562 is a rendering by
Wisdom of Luther's famous prayer for aid against Turk and
infidel, and is set to his tune. We judge therefore that the
later group of hymns reflects the influence of a party which
in exile abroad had become familiar with Lutheran hym-
nody and who favored some recognition of hymns at home ;
and moreover that a place in the Psalter was gained for
these few hymns in expectation or at least hope of getting
them sung in the church services. In favor of this view
we note the rubrics of No. 4, "to bee sung before the ser-
mon," and of two of the added hymns, "to bee sung before
Morning prayer," "to bee sung before Evening prayer."
All three correspond precisely with the church uses desig-
nated on the title-page of the 1566 edition already quoted.
As regards the expectation of church use for these hymns
we can say that it was realized in the case of the Com-
munion Thanksgiving. George Wither, writing in 1623,
says J "We haue a custome among us, that, during the time
of administring the blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Sup-
per, there is some Psalme or hymne sung, the better to keepe
the thoughts of the Communicants from wandring after
^The Hymnes and Songs of the Church, ed. 1623, p. 63 : Farr's
reprint, p. 271.
32 THE ENGLISH HYMN
vaine objects." This was the hymn that shared such em-
ployment with psahns. It was sung while seated by the
portion of the congregation which had already communi-
cated or which awaited their turn to communicate, and its
great length (124 lines) suggests that such use was fore-
seen. But such use was disassociated from the actual ad-
ministration of the Sacrament and in a sense semi-private;
and it may well be that some parishes made such use of this
particular hymn which otherwise admitted psalms alone to
the church services.
On the whole these hymns present no more than an
insignificant exception to the statement that the Church of
England became a psalm singing church. At the first
they proved no impediment to the advancing tide of Psalm-
ody. There was no time when their voice could be dis-
tinguished from the volume of Psalmody that filled the land.
A movement to make use of them developed on the Puritan
side; but they were not destined to form the nucleus of
an ultimate Hymnal nor to point the way toward it. As
time passed there appeared a tendency to reduce their
number. In a London edition of 171 3, bound up with
the Prayer Book, they number only sixteen : in a Cambridge
University Press edition of 1737, only thirteen. From the
Baskerville edition of 1762 they have disappeared alto-
gether. In later movements to introduce hymns into church
worship the hymns of the early Psalter played but an insig-
nificant part.
2. The Hymns Appended to the Scottish Psalter
The first edition of the psalm book for the Scottish
Church appeared in 1564 and 1565 as a constituent part
(without separate title-page) of The forme of prayers and
ministration of the sacraments &c vsed in the English
Church at Geneua, -approued and receiued by the Churche
of Scotland, whereimto besydes that was in the former
bokes, are also added sondrie other prayers, with the whole
Psalmes of Dauid in English meter . . . (Edinburgh:
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 33
Robert Lekprevick).^ Unlike the "former bokes" at Geneva,
and the Enghsh Psalter of two years before, the psalms
were unaccompanied by paraphrases or hymns.
Oddly enough the song first appended to the Scottisli^
Psalter was a mere love song, appearing in an unlicensed
edition of 1568; an impertinent intrusion by its printer,
Thomas Bassandyne, which invoked the intervention of the
General Assembly, who ordered him to call in the copies
sold, and to "delete the said baudie song out of the end of
the psalm books." ^
At the same time Bassandyne was ordered to abstain
from printing anything "without licence of the Supreme
Magistrate, and revising of sick things as pertain to religion
be some of the Kirk appointed for that purpose." But in
1575 Bassandyne again printed the Psalter as The CL.
Psalms of David in English metre. With the forme of
prayers &c.^*' In this (apparently without objection from
the Assembly) four hymns were appended to the Psalms:
The Commandments (with the "Prayer" following), the
Lord's Prayer (Cox), the Lamentation ("O Lord, in Thee
is all my trust") and Veni Creator. And thereafter the
inclusion of some hymns was the rule rather than the ex-
ception in the Scottish Psalter. In the edition of 1595 there
'Several copies are extant. For facsimile of title-page see Neil
Livingston, The Scottish Metrical Psalter of A. D. 1635. Reprinted
. . . and illustrated by dissertations, &c., folio, Glasgow, 1864, p. 72; and,
for description of contents, pp. 13, 27 ff., and appendix. For a collation,
see Dickson and Edmond, Annals of Scottish Printing, Cambridge, 1890,
pp. 220 fiF.
'No copy has survived. For the action of the Assembly see the
Maitland Club ed. of The Booke of the Universall Kirk of Scotland,
part i, pp. 125, 126. For the text of the "Baudie Song" ("Welcume
Fortoun, welcum againe,") see Charles G. M'Crie, The Public Worship
of Presbyterian Scotland, Edinburgh, 1892, appendix H. It had already
appeared in the 1567 edition of the Wedderburn The gude and godlie
Ballatis.
"No complete copy survives, but the late D. Laing's copy and one at
the Bodleian, Oxford, contain the Psalms. For a collation of the
latter, see Dickson and Edmond, op. cit., pp. 309 &.., and for description
of contents see Livingston, ut supra.
34 THE ENGLISH HYMN
were ten, all evidently copied from the English Psalter. In
1615 appeared "The Song of Moses," a Scottish paraphrase
of Deuteronomy xxxii in forty-three D. C. M. stanzas,
divided into six parts for singing "to the tune of the Third
Psalme." It was placed before the title page of the Psalms,
with a note by the printer (Andro Hart), explaining why
he had inserted it and recommending it to the church. ^^ In
the edition of 1635 the hymns attained a maximum of
thirteen; eleven selected from the English Psalter, two of
Scottish origin; — the Song of Moses, and "A Spiritual
Song," beginning "What greater wealth than a contented
minde?"
The whole list thus appearing is as follows : —
1. Commandments (L. M.). "Attend my people": with the "Prayer."
2. Lord's Prayer (Cox's).
3. Veni Creator.
4. Nunc dimittis.
5. XII Articles.
6. The Humble Sute. "O Lord, on whom I do depend."
7. The Lamentation. "O Lord, turn not."
8. The Complaint. "Where righteousnesse doth say."
9. Magnificat.
10. The Lamentation. "O Lord, in thee."
11. The Song of Moses.
12. Thanksgiving after the Lord's Supper.
13. A Spirituall Song.
The questions that concern us are whether these appended
hymns were authorized, and, if so, for use in church wor-
ship, and whether by making use of them the Church of
Scotland was at first, and to that extent, a hymn singing
church.
No express authorization of them has been shown. On
the other hand their appearance was known to the Assem-
blies, and not rebuked as the appearance of "Welcume
"A godly brother, to whom he announced his intention of reprinting
the Psalter, expressed surprise that the Song of Moses had never
found place in earlier editions. Hart thereupon requested him to
prepare a metrical version for insertion in the forthcoming edition.
The song is signed "L M.," and its author has been identified as
James Melville, nephew of Andrew and minister of Kilrenny.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 35
Fortoiin" had been. We must then say that the hymns were
tacitly allowed. Such careful students as Dr. Horatius
Bonar and Dr. Sprott have assumed as a matter of course
that this action or lack of action on the part of the Assembly
was with a view to the church use of the hymns in public
worship. ^^ This assumption involves the position that mis-
cellaneous hymn singing was so much a matter of common
consent among Scottish reformers that the appearing of a
group of hymns for church worship along with the psalms
was not a thing requiring action or even notice by the
church authorities. For this there is no evidence in their
writings or recorded practice or in the rubrics of the
Common Order. The probabilities seem to point in a direc-
tion precisely opposite. They suggest that the addition of
hymns was made so easily simply because their use in church
worship was not proposed, and because the singing of
spiritual songs by the people or their use as means for in-
structing the young was acceptable to all. That no one of
these hymns was ever used in any Scottish church cannot
be affirmed, but if so there is no known record of it. But
that the appendix of hymns did not constitute a church
hymn book, and that the hymns were not used continuously
or generally can be affirmed with confidence, and proved by
reference to successive editions of the Psalter itself. No
hymns are known to have been appended till 1575, when
they number four. In the editions of 1587, 1594 and 1595,
they number ten. In 1599 there is but one (the "Lamenta-
tion"). In 1602 there are again ten: in one edition of 161 1
three, and in another, a small and cheap edition for general
"Dr. Bonar in Catechisms of the Scottish Reformation (London,
1866), p. 302: Dr. Sprott in The Worship and Offices of the Church
of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 22- They are answered with warmth
by D. Hay Fleming in The Hymnology of the Scottish Reformation
(Reprinted from "Original Secession Magazine"), 1884. It seems to
be the rule in Scotland that those favoring the use of hymns see clearly
that the church has always allowed them, while those opposing hymns
are concerned to maintain what was until lately the church's un-
varying practice.
36 THE ENGLISH HYMN
use, there are none at all. In 1615 there are ten affixed, and
one prefixed on the printer's own motion. In 1629 there is
only one hymn. In 1635 there are thirteen, and the "Song"
prefixed by the printer in 161 5 appears in the appendage
with the earlier hymns. The editions of the Scottish Psalter
were numerous, in order that the people might have their
own copies; the days of "lining out the Psalm" were not
yet ;^^ and plainly the Psalters in their hands did not furnish
the materials for the congregational singing of the hymns.
We do not know under what auspices the hymns were
added to the Scottish Psalters. It has already become evi-
dent that the printers exercised some liberty in this connec-
tion, and that the appendage to the English Psalter fur-
nished a motive and also the materials. We can only
surmise the reasons that guided the selection of English
material. The apocryphal Benedicite, the Te Deum and
Creed of Athanasius, would be regarded as inexpedient; the
alternative Commandments and Lord's Prayer, and the
Venite ("see Psalm 95") as surplusage; the other omitted
hymns as perhaps unnecessary or unattractive.
In Scotland as in England the hymns appended to the
Psalter failed to furnish the nucleus of a future hymn book.
The increase of their number in 1635 did not imply a
movement to make larger use of them in worship, and when
the Psalms of David in mcctcr were prepared in 1649-50
there seems to have been no thought given to reprinting the
earlier hymns but rather to the question of adding Scriptural
paraphrases in the strict sense.
As the result of our examination we are compelled to
conclude that in spite of appearances the hymns appended to
the English and Scottish Psalters must be regarded as an
episode, and one of no great significance, in the history of
Psalmody rather than as a link in the continutiy of the de-
velopment of the English Hymn. Their relation to church
worship is indeterminate. They did not become the nucleus
of a hymnal. They were hardly even prophetic of the lines
"C/. Livingston, op. cii., p. 3,
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN ^y
on which the Hymn developed; for the demand for hymns
grew out of long experience in singing metrical psalms, and
not out of any satisfaction in the use of appended hymns.
HI
THE PROMISE OF AN ENGLISH HYMNODY BY
TRANSLATING THE OLD LATIN CHURCH
HYMNS (1538-1559) FAILS
The most striking feature of the hymns appended to the
English and Scottish Psalters is the appearance in each of
a translation of the old Latin church hymn, Veni Creator
Spiritus, which was in the Breviary and had also a place of
special honor in the Pontifical. It suggests at first sight a
purpose of giving the old church Hymnody some recogni-
tion along with the new Psalmody, but it had in reality no
such significance. In the case of Scotland the appearance
of this hymn had probably no significance one way or the
other. Under Knox's influence the Genevan model had been
transported to Scotland bodily, and there was no question
among the reformers of continuing the Latin Hymnody or
any other features of the old church services. Whoever
chose the hymns for the Scottish Psalter found this one in
the English Psalter, chose it and inserted it for reasons we
do not know and for uses we can only surmise. But in
England the situation was different. The course taken by
the Reformation there left ample opportunities for the in-
troduction of an English Hymnody on the lines of the old
Latin Hymnody so familiar and so dear to many; of which
opportunities the occasion of adding an appendix of hymns
to the metrical Psalter may be regarded as the last. What
the appearance of the Veni Creator alone in this appendix
really signifies is not a purpose to embrace this final oppor-
tunity, but rather an acc[uiescence in a situation in w^hich,
with the single exception of Veni Creator, the whole area
of the Latin Hymnody had been excluded from the worship
38 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of the Reformed Church of England. And, before taking
up the lines upon which an English Hymnody did develop,
its failure to develop on the line that seems most natural
and inviting demands some consideration.
There had been from the very first the promise of such
development through the simple process of turning the Latin
hymns into English; a process happening to be consistent
with the scope and direction of the plans of Henry VHL
Apart from the efforts of reformers the Church had al-
ready shown some purpose of meeting the desire of the laity
for a more intelligent part in worship. This showed itself
first in the Horac or Primer, the layman's book of private
devotion, whether at home or in church; containing offices
for the hours, commandments, creed, litany, the penitential
and other Psalms, with various prayers and materials for
devotion and sometimes for instruction; and including in
the offices the hymns proper to the time. The Ms. Sarum
Primer of the beginning of the 15th century, is already
wholly in English and the hymns are translated into prose. ^^
In printed editions of Sarum Primers from 1538, the hymns
are versified in a rude way, not apparently for singing and
certainly not for singing in church. From the Sarum
Primers grew a modified and unauthorized type, of which
Marshall's Primer of c. 1534 is the earliest survivor.^'^ The
hand of reform is disclosed by the omission of hymns to
the Virgin; the Latin hymns of the Sarum Primer are re-
jected, and new hymns are furnished on the Latin model :
another effort by an unknown hand toward supplying a
Reformed Hymnody, and paralleling in a small way that of
Coverdale.
By 1539 Henry VIII takes the Primer in hand, and
through Bishop Hilsey issues one based on the Sarum}'^ In
1545 appeared the first of many editions of The Primer set
"Reprinted in Maskell's Monumcnta ritualia Ecdcsiac Anglkanac,
vol. iii.
"E. Hoskins, Sarum and York Primers, with kindred books, Lon-
don, 1901, No. 115, and see pp. 193 ff.
'"Hoskins, No. 142 and see pp. 225 ff.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 39
fvrth by the kinge's maicstic & his clergic, to he taught
lerned, and red; & none other to he vsed thorowoiit all his
Dominions." ^^ By royal injunction prefixed, this book
became the sole authorized primer ; the selling, use or teach-
ing of any of the earlier ones being prohibited.
The hymns of this King's Primer are a fresh selection,
taken with one exception from the Sartim Breviary. They
mark a great advance over their predecessors in the primers
and in Coverdale : the sweetness of their spiritual tone and
the excellence of their verse are still appealing. In this book
our Long Metre takes its place as the English equivalent
of the Iambic Dimeter of the Ambrosian Hymns; and the
Trochaic 7s is also successfully introduced.
Before the publication of this Primer for private use,
the first step had already been taken toward introducing
the vernacular into the public worship of the church. The
Convocation of 1542 ordered that twice on every Sunday
and holy day a chapter of the Bible in English should be
read to the people; and in 1544 was set forth a "Litany
with suffrages" in English, to be used in processions.^^
Cranmer had also made a beginning in providing English
versions of the hymns used in the public services. A letter
he sent to the King a few months after the publication of the
English Litany, encloses, with other translations and music,
a draft of a version of the hymn Salve festa dies set to the
Gregorian melody. *T have travailed," Cranmer says, "to
make the verses in English. ... I made them only for
a proof to see how English would do in song. But, by
cause mine English verses want the grace and facility that
I would wish they had, your majesty may cause some other
to make them again, that can do the same in more pleasant
English and phrase."^^
There is no evidence that any use was made of Cran-
mer's hymn or of his suggestion to employ a more cunning
"The title is from a reprint of the edition of 1546 (xvii August).
^^Private prayers of Queen Elizabeth. Parker Society ed : appendix.
^'Misc. Writings and Letters of Cranmer. Parker Soc. ed., p. 412.
40 THE ENGLISH HYMN
hand. In fact during the remainder of Henry's reign no
further steps were taken toward vernacular services.
But when under Edward VI the way was opened to in-
troduce English service books, neither the First Prayer Book
of 1549 nor the Second of 1552, contained any of the
hymns which were an essential part of the offices from which
the Prayer Book Services were framed, except a rendering
of the Veni Creator Spiritus in the ordinal of 1550. The
little that is known of the genesis of the First Prayer Book
throws scanty light on this omission. The recently printed
Ms. of Cranmer's two drafts of his successive schemes of
liturgical revision bears no dates.^^ The first is the scheme
of a revised Breviary, containing offices for all the canonical
hours, in the Latin language throughout, and based on the
Reformed Breviary of Cardinal Quignon.^^ The second
draft seems to belong to the early years of Edward VI's
reign, and marks the transition from the "Divine Office" of
the ancient Church to the "Morning and Evening Prayer"
of the Church of England. The "Hours" are reduced to
two. Matins and Vespers, and the Lord's Prayer and Les-
sons are in English. Of the Latin hymns of the Breviaries,
twenty-six are retained, fourteen being assigned to the days
of the week, twelve to the seasons of the Church year.^"
For some reason Cranmer did not use the Breviaries as the
sources of his hymns, but took them from the Elucida-
torium Ecclesiasticum of Clichtoveus, one of the earliest
collectors of hymns, following his text.^^ Four of the
hymns had never appeared in an English office book, and
of these one is by Clichtoveus himself. ^^ In the preface of
his draft Cranmer says : "We have left only a few hymns
which appeared to be more ancient and more beautiful than
the rest." ^^ In thus dealing with the hymns Cranmer was
""First printed in Gasquet and Bishop, Edward VI and the Book of
Common Prayer, London, 1890.
■'Ibid., p. 27- """"Ibid., p. 32.
'7&id., pp. 353 ff- and 334.
^Ibid., p. 354 and note.
^Hbid., p. 27-
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 41
following the example of Quignon, and to some extent his
preface here follows the words of Quignon's. The preface
to the First Prayer Book of Edward VI is little more than
a translation of the preface to this second of Cranmer's
drafts; but as there are no Office Hymns in the Prayer Book
the reference to them just quoted of course drops out.^*^
Cranmer's draft shows a purpose of reducing the num-
ber of the hymns in use, and a preference for the ancient
hymns as against those more recently added to the Breviar-
ies. But it does not explain why in turning his services
into English he should have omitted metrical hymns alto-
gether from his Prayer Book. And no adequate explana-
tion of this singular omission has ever yet been offered.
Mr. Frere, in his New History of the Book of Common
Prayer, says that Cranmer omitted the hymns because he
had "failed in his attempts to reproduce them in English
dress, as he had planned to do." ^^ The two difficulties in
the way of accepting this explanation are : ist that some
English versions were already at hand in the King's Primer,
which were themselves available and whose existence argues
that a capacity to translate other hymns was not lacking.-^
2nd that English hymns not only failed to appear in the
^^See the two prefaces in parallel columns in Gasquet and Bishop,
appendix iii.
'"London, 1901, pp. 309 f.
**The following may serve as a specimen of these hymns. It is from
the edition of August 17, 1546, as "Reprinted without any Alteration"
(n. d.).
"Felowe of thy fathers lyght,
Lyght of light and day most bryght,
Christ that chaseth awaye nyghte,
Ayde vs for to pray aright.
Driue out darknes, from our mindes.
Driue away the flocke of fendes,
Drousynes, take from our eyes,
That from slouth we may aryse.
Christ vouchsafe mercy to geue,
To vs all that do beleue.
Let it profit vs that pray
All that we do syng or say. Amen."
42 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Prayer Book, but they actually disappeared from the new
Primer of 1553, which is based on The Book of Common
Prayer, and contains no metrical hymns, unless rhymed
graces be so called. ^^ This exclusion of hymns in them-
selves so good from the place already gained in the Primer
seems to imply that the omission of hymns from the Prayer
Book arose from a change of sentiment or judgment in
regard to them, with which even the new Primer had to
accord. In the vacillation of Cranmer's mind between
Lutheranism and Calvinism, his omission of the hymns
from the Prayer Book is a priori explicable as due to either
influence. He might have argued that the true place of
the Hymn was not in the structure of the Offices, where
it would be rendered by the choir, but in a hymn-book,
where it could be sung by the people, according to the
Lutheran precedent. But the absence of hymns from the
Primer tells against this explanation. He might, on the
other hand, have been sufficiently under the influence of
his Calvinistic advisers to feel that hymns of human com-
position had but a doubtful place in public worship. There
are indications in the Zurich Letters confirming such a
supposition; and of the two explanations of Cranmer's
change of sentiment it is the more probable.
Whatever Cranmer's motives were, his action, together
with the growing predilection of the people for metrical
Psalms, proved decisive in excluding the old church hymns
from the worship of the Church of England. Hymns ap-
peared again in Elizabeth's Primer of 1559; and in the 49th
of her Injunctions of that year it was permitted "that in the
beginning or in the end of the Common Prayers, either at
morning or evening, there may be sung an hymn or such
like song to the praise of Almighty God, in the best sort
of melody and music that may be conveniently devised,
having respect that the sentence of the hymn may be under-
standed and perceived." It has been suggested^^ that this
^'Liturgies of Edward VI. Parker. Soc. ed., pp. 357-384-
*'By H. L. Bennett in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, p. 344'.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 43
Injunction contemplated the introduction, among other
things, of naturaHzed Latin hymns. Doubtless the Injunc-
tion was broad enough to accomplish such an end if the
desire for it existed, but its own declaration of purpose
("for the comforting of such that delight in music") and
its language throughout make clear its intention to permit
anthems by the choir of florid music in addition to the
plain-song which it prescribes for general use. It became
in fact the recognized authorization at once of the anthem
by the choir and of the Genevan Psalm by the people.
And when the completed Psalter of 1562 was prepared
no advantage v/as taken of the opportunity to provide ver-
sions of Latin hymns. It is likely that the interests repre-
sented in the prefixed group of "churchly" hymns were not
solicitous for the introduction of hymns of any sort into
public worship. They found the Vcni Creator in the Or-
dinal, and it fell in with their purpose of giving a Prayer
Book tone to their appendage of hymns. There is at least
no evidence of any desire to modify Cranmer's rejection
of the old church Hymnody.
Nor did any such proposal follow. The Metrical Psalm
had prevailed. The Latin Hymn remained in the possession
of the Roman Catholic Church, and successive editions
of the Roman Primer witness its efforts that its people
should know the hymns in their own tongue. In the
Primer of 1604 (Antwerp) appeared an English version of
the Vesper hymns from the Breviary. This was replaced
in that of 161 5 (Mechlin) by another version of the same.
Twenty of the translations in this Primer have been claimed
for Drummond of Hawthornden, a Scottish Protestant of
the prelatic type, and printed as his by the editor of the
171 1 Edinburgh edition of his works.^^ The Primer of
''They are printed in W. C. Ward's "Muses' Library" ed. of Drum-
mond, London, 1894, but the editor follows Orby Shipley (Annus
Sanctus, London, 1884, vol. i, preface pp. 12 flf.) in doubting Drum-
mond's authorship. For the opposite view, see Wm. T. Brooke in
Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, pp. 312, 313.
44 THE ENGLISH HYMN
1685 has still another version of the hymns; and in that of
1706^- the whole circle of the Breviary hymns is represented
by English versions which are regarded^^ as owing their
origin to the distinguished poet Dryden and as being in
large part his own work.
This body of vernacular hymns for the use of Catholic
lajTnen had of course no bearing upon the services of their
Church, and no influence on those of the Church of Eng-
land.^^ It gradually passed, with the Primer itself, out of
use and largely out of recollection until freshly studied in
our own time by the Rev. Orby Shipley, an Anglican
clergyman who passed into the Roman Church in 1877.
But side by side with the Roman Primers appeared numer-
ous editions of Primers of the Henry VIII type, from
which devout Anglicans with Roman leanings could use
versions of old church hymns in their private devotions.
One of them, John Cosin, afterwards Bishop of Norwich,
aimed at a general introduction of offices in Primer fashion
in his A Collection of private devotions in the practice
of the ancient Church called the Houres of Prayer (1627),
renamed, the year following, by William Prynne, "Mr.
Cozens His Couzening Devotions." It contained numerous
versions of hymns for the canonical hours, and from it
Cosin's own version of Veni Creator passed into The Book
of Common Prayer of 1662, of which he was one of the
revisers. There are other evidences that there still lingered
in the English Church a feeling for and a feeling after the
old Office Hymns which the Church had rejected. But it
was confined within a narrow circle and it gradually waned.
^'The Primer, or Office of the B. Virgin Mary, revis'd: with a new
and approv'd version of the Church-Hymns throughout the Year:
to which are added the remaining Hymns of the Roman Breviary.
Printed in the Year 1706.
^^By Orby Shipley, who prints a full selection in his Annus Sanctus.
For Dryden's claims of authorship, see preface, pp. 9-12.
'*Dryden's version of Veni Creator in the 1706 Primer has become
familiar in Protestant use. It had, however, appeared in part iii of
his Miscellanies, 1693, and in Tonson's folio edition of Dryden's Poems
in 1701.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 45
It was not without its influence in turning the minds of
devotional poets toward the hymn-form. But by the
XVIIIth century the whole area of Latin Hymnody had
become, to the Church of England clergy, a remote and un-
known country, vaguely indicated as "Popish." It was
destined to remain so until the Oxford Revival of the XlXth
century, whose leaders encountered much reproach in their
efforts to explore it.
And indeed the causes of this neglect lay deeper than even
Protestant prejudice. Not till Romanticism, whose spiritual
child the Oxford Movement was, loosed the fetters of
Classicism were men's minds free to appreciate the old
Hymnody and many other things that interest us.
IV
THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN
FROM THE METRICAL PSALM
The modern practice of singing hymns in English-speak-
ing Churches grew, as has been intimated already, out of
the Psalmody actually practised in those Churches. It
found its occasion in the dissatisfaction with which the
body of metrical psalms, substantially alike in England
and Scotland, came to be regarded by many of those who
were expected to sing them. It found its opportunity in
growing indifference toward Psalmody as a church ordi-
nance, and the consequent degradation into which the prac-
tice of Psalmody as a musical performance was allowed
to fall. This indifference and neglect was occasioned partly
at least by the fact that the strict principle of an exclusive
•use of psalms in worship had lost something of the earlier
force of its appeal to the conscience, and(psalms had failed
to express fully the thoughts and emotions of the Christian
heart.
The new Hymn itself was partly an outspreading of the
Metrical Psalm from its original basis of being a strict trans-
46 THE ENGLISH HYMN
lation, to embrace a freer method of paraphrase, to inchide
other parts of Scripture, to become an "imitation" or ex-
position of Scripture, and finally a hymn more or less sug-
'K^ested by Scripture. It was partly also a development of
the impulse to write devotional poetry, to which a hymnic
turn was given by the felt need of hymns at first for
private and then for public use. In the moulding of its
form the precedent of the Metrical Psalm no doubt pre-
dominated, but at the same time the older Latin ideal of
the Hymn, kept alive by Roman Catholic books of devotion,
was not without influence, by way of suggestion especially,
upon the English Hymn.
The evolution of the Hymn from the Metrical Psalm
may perhaps be distinguished as proceeding along three
lines, more or less synchronous.
\ (i) By way of an effort to improve the literary char-
acter of the authorized Psalters.
Our ineradicable conviction that one choosing the medium
of verse should justify his choice by the artistic character
of his work gives us a poor point of view from which to
regard Metrical Psalmody. It was a utilitarian device,
based on devotion to the letter of God's word, aiming
merely to cast it into measured and rhyming lines which
plain people could sing to simple melodies, as they sang
their ballads. The Swiss and French Calvinists, it is true,
were able to make large use of the work of Clement Marot,
the outstanding poet of France, and secured a version of
one third of the Psalter which satisfied Calvin for its ac-
curacy and the whole of France for its beauty. In Eng-
land and Scotland it was otherwise. The men who made
their Psalters were not poets nor even good craftsmen.
The poor and prosaic character of their work was an un-
conscious testimony that English prose was the natural
medium of a literal translation of the Hebrew Psalms, and
that resort to verse had secured singableness at the expense
of literal fidelity; and, on the other hand, that the desire
to be as literal as the English metre allowed, had joined
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 47
with the authors' meagre poetic gifts, to produce a metrical
version devoid of the grace or charm of poetry.
Therefore the Enghsh and Scottish PsaUers were, from
the beginning of the XVHth century, subject to two in-
fluences. One was the Puritan demand for greater literal-
ness. This culminated in the New England version, the
famous Bay Psalm Book of 1640, and in the Scottish re-
cension of the Psalter recommended by the Westminster
Assembly, commonly called Rotts's Version, 1650. These
represented the Puritan movement to maintain Psalmody
in its purity. It was an effectual movement in Scotland.
But with the exclusion of the Puritans from the Church of
England the movement did little permanently, except to
remain as unsettlement and a desire for revision.
The other influence upon the Psalters was that of literar}''
culture, which regarded them with growing dissatisfaction.
The earlier private versions following the publication of
Stcrnhold and Hopkins, — those, for example, of Archbishop
Parker, Sir Philip Sidney and his sister. Sir John Harring-
ton, and Sir John Davies, in England, and of Alexander
Montgomerie in Scotland, — were literary efforts or intended
for private use, and some remained in Ms. They were no
doubt in their way protests against the current Psalters.
But in 1619 George Wither in his A Preparation to the
Psalter laboriously cleared the ground for the introduction
of a better version than that employed since the Reform-
ation. And his The Psalms of David translated into lyrick
verse (1632), and also The Psalms of King David trans-
lated by King James (1631), were deliberate attempts to
impose upon the people of England and Scotland respec-
tively new versions of the Psalms, of which they had no
appreciation. The one was ordered to be bound up with
every copy of the Bible issued in England, the other was
bound up w^ith Laud's Prayer Book for the Scottish Church :
and both were futile enough.
Such desire and ability to improve the Psalter as there
was in Scotland found its final expression in The Psalms of
48 THE ENGLISH HYMN
David in meeter, 1650, in which painstaking work the pre-
ponderance of the Puritan motive did not prevent an ad-
vance in expression and in smoothness. In England the
desire to improve the Psalter was confined to the educated
minority. It was expressed, for a long time ineffectually,
in criticisms and protests and in private versions of the
Book of Psalms offered more or less frankly in the place
of the current one. Of these George Sandys' A para-
phrase upon the Psalms of David attained real literary dis-
tinction and was set to music in 1638 by Henry Lawes.
It failed, however, to attain any wide use, for which it was
indeed poorly adapted.
But in 1695 appeared specimen sheets of a new Psalter
by two Irishmen, — Nahum Tate, whom William III had
made Poet Laureate, and Dr. Nicholas Brady, who had been
zealous for the Prince of Orange in the Revolution, and
was then a Royal Chaplain, and the holder also of a London
living. Their joint work was completed and published
at London in 1696 as A new Version^^ of the Psalms of
David, fitted to the tunes used in Churches. By N. Tate
and N. Brady. Both writers were in royal favor, and on
December 3 of the year of its publication, their version
was by the King in Council "Allowed and Permitted to be
used in all Churches, Chappels, and Congregations, as shall
think fit to receive the same." In May, 1698, the Bishop of
London "persuaded it may take off that unhappy Objection,
which has hitherto lain against the Singing Psalms," "heart-
ily recommended the Use of this Version to all his Brethren
within his Diocess."
What at present concerns us is to determine the nature of
the influence this book was fitted to exert on a psalm sing-
ing church. The impression it makes upon ourselves, accus-
tomed to the use of hymns, is not difiicult to define. Our
opinions might differ as to details, but we are likely to agree
^"•The designation of New Version thus given has ever since clung
to it as distinguishing it from the Old Version of Sternhold and
Hopkins.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 49
that these new Psahii versions — fluent and rhythmical and
eminently singable as they are, following closely the Scrip-
ture and yet yielding to the devices of rhetoric as they do, —
often make upon us the impression of being hymns rather
than psalms in the stricter sense. We feel, at times cer-
tainly, as though we had a hymn book in hand, and indeed
recognize a number of pieces long familiar to us as hymns. ^°
What we wish, however, is to know the impression made
by the New Version at the time upon one who was accus-
tomed and attached to singing psalms of the Old Version in
church worship.
Fortunately we have the testimony of one who regarded
the attachment of the plain people to Sternhold and Hopkins
as a sheet-anchor of English religion, and who has given
us the impression made upon him by an examination of
Tate and Brady. It occurs in A Defence of the Book of
Psalms, collected into English metre, by Thomas Sternhold,
John Hopkins, and others. With critical observations on
the late New Version, compar'd with the Old. By William
Beveridge, D.D., late Lord Bishop of St. Asaph. (Lon-
don, 17 10). He says: —
"I do not hear, that this [New Version] was ever conferred with the
Hebrew, as the other was; nor so much as that any of our Bishops,
or other learned in that Language, were appointed or authorized to do
it. And there is too much cause to suspect, that it was never done.
For, if we may take our Aleasures of its agreeing or disagreeing with
the Hebrew Text, from its agreeing or not agreeing with the Psalms
in the New Translation of the Bible, made out of the Hebrew, we
may thence conclude, that there was not the Care taken about this,
as there was about the Old Version. So far, at least, as I am able
to judge, Who having got a Sight of this New Translation of the
Psalms in Verse, could not satisfy my own Mind about it, without
comparing it with the New Translation in Prose. Which I had no
sooner begun, but I found so many Variations, that I thought to have
gather'd together all that I judged to be so, throughout the whole
Book, without any other Design, but for my own Satisfaction. But
^"Among such : the 34th, "Thro' all the changing Scenes of life" ;
the 42nd, "As pants the Hart for cooling Streams"; the 51st, "Have
Mercy, Lord, on me" ; the 84th, "O God of Hosts, the mighty Lord" ;
and the 93rd, "With Glory clad, with Strength array'd."
50 THE ENGLISH HYMN
when I had gone a little way, I found them multiply so fast upon me,
that I could see no end, and, therefore, was forced to give it over,
and to content myself with observing the reason of it ; which, to me,
seem'd to be this : That, whereas the Composers and Reviewers of the
Old Translation had nothing else in their Eye, but to give us the true
Sense of each place in as few Words as could be in Verse, and, there-
fore, keep close to the Text, without deviating from it, upon any
account : In this New Translation, there is so much regard had to
the Poetry, the Style, the Running of the Verse, and such-like in-
considerable Circumstances, that it was almost impossible to avoid
going from the Text, and altering the true Sense and Meaning of it.
For, hence it came to pass, that although the Authors, doubtless,
designed a true Translation, yet other things crowding into their
Heads at the same time, justled that Design so, that it could not
always take eflfect."^^
We conclude that the impression made by .the New Ver-
sion upon the lovers of the old Psalter was not very differ-
ent from that it makes upon ourselves. They recognized
in it the proposal of a new standard in Church of England
Psalmody, a proposed exchange of the Reformation prin-
ciple of a close translation of the letter of Scripture for that
of a rhetorical paraphrase.
And this perception on their part determined and limited
the career of the New Version within the Church of Eng-
land. It never became the Psalter of the whole Church.
It never dispossessed the Old Version in many a village and
country side parish, where, partly from conviction, partly
owing to the force of use and wont, successive generations
of the congregations went on singing the Old Version until
well toward the. middle of the nineteenth century. But it
worked its way, often against resistance, into one and an-
other parish church of London and its neighborhood, until
it became preeminently the London Psalter, and into widen-
ing circles beyond, as those concerned for the improvement
of Psalmody were able to have their way.
On the whole, the influence of the New Version was
very considerable. It set up in the Church of England a
new standard of Psalmody, with the same authorization as
"Pp. 39-41.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 51
the older one, — that of a Paraphrase which had something
of the freer lyrical spirit of the Hymn as against the re-
strictions of the Metrical Psalm. It is not unfair to say
that the spirit and tendency of the New Version appears
in the fact that it proved most acceptable to those least bent
on maintaining the older type of Psalmody and whose
minds were turning toward hymns; that a movement to-
ward introducing them was connected with it, apparently
from the beginning, and that by means of its "Supplement"
it became the actual medium by which hymns were intro-
duced into many churches in and beyond London.
(2) The second line of the development of the Hymn ^
from the Metrical Psalm was hy zvay of an effort to accom-
modate the Scriptural text to the circumstances of present
day worshippers.
In the first enthusiasm at being in the possession of God's
word in the vernacular, there was no desire to choose among
Psalms equally inspired; and the custom was to sing the
Psalter through in course. But after some experience the
Reformed clergy in all the Churches exercised the right of
selection. Even so there remained the inconvenience of
singing certain statements in the selected Psalms inappli-
cable to the congregation. This became more conspicuous
when each statement was put into the congregation's mouth
separately and distinctly in the process of "lining out" be-
fore singing. In England both the selection and the lining
of the psalm fell into the hands of the parish clerk. And
to him fell consequently the opportunity of omitting or
even altering any lines he regarded as inopportune. While
freely exercised, the remedy was irregular, inconvenient to
those who could read, and dependent at best upon the dis-
cretion and readiness of a class of ofificials not characteris-
tically gifted with either. The difficulty w^as in fact in-
herent in the strict conception of Psalmody itself, and
hardly capable of remedy within its own limits.
A much more serious inconvenience in confining the con-
gregational praise to the Psalter made itself felt in Eng-
52 THE ENGLISH HYMN
land as it was felt in every country where the Reformed
cultus had been introduced. It arose from the fact that the
canonical Psalms represented one dispensation and the wor-
shippers another; and the difficulty was that of satisfying
Christian devotion with the songs of an earlier stage of
revelation. In all Reformed Churches the congregations
had been duly trained in the evangelical interpretation of the
Psalms ; and its expression was a commonplace of preaching
and public prayer. The individual believer was of course
expected to have in mind the evangelical implications of
what he sang; but nevertheless it remained true that the
Psalmody was his peculiar opportunity for expression in the
church service, and that in Psalmody he could not name
his Saviour's name. There was no real solution of this
difficulty short of the inauguration of a Christian Hym-
nody; and toward this solution the Psalmody of all coun-
tries inevitably tended.
In England toward the end of the XVIIth century the
mass of the people were not ready for so radical a change,
and the expedient suggested itself of accommodating the
Psalmody to the circumstances of the Christian dispensation
by introducing the familiar evangelical interpretations of
the Psalms into their actual text. In this way it seemed pos-
sible to attain the desired end, while leaving the accustomed
form and manner of Psalmody entirely unimpaired and with
changes in the words of inspiration only in the sense of
interpreting them.
The name of Dr. Watts became, from the second decade
of the XVIIIth century, so inevitably associated with this
method of accommodating the Psalms, and his influence
told so overwhelmingly in favor of its adoption and spread,
that it becomes difficult to realize that he was not the in-
ventor of it. He had, however, an English predecessor in
John Patrick, "Preacher to the Charter-House, London."
Patrick was one of the divines who hoped to remedy the
low estate of Psalmody in the Church of England after
the Restoration by producing a version of the Psalms more
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 53
acceptable than Sternhold and Hopkins. He published in
1679 A Century of select Psalms and portions of the Psalms
of David, especially those of praise. His work had less in-
fluence in the Church of England than with Nonconform-
ists. Richard Baxter in 1681^^ contrasts the work of the
brothers Patrick. One by his Friendly Debate has done all
in his power to destroy concord, the other by his Psalms
"hath so far reconciled the nonconformists that divers of
them use his Psalms in their congregations, though they
have their old ones, Rouses . . . the New Englands . . .
the Scots (agreed on by two nations)" and others, ''in
competition with it."
Dr. Watts^^ attributed the welcome given to Patrick's
version by Nonconformists to the fact "that he hath made
use of the present language of Christianity in several
Psalms, and left out many of the Judaisms."
"This," he says, "is the Thing that hath introduced him into the
Favour of so many religious Assemblies. Even those very Persons that
have an Aversion to sing any thing in Worship but David's Psalms
have been led insensibly to fall in with Dr. Patrick's Performance by
a Relish of pious Pleasure ; never considering that his Work is by no
means a just Translation, but a Paraphrase; and there are scarce any
that have departed farther from the inspired Words of Scripture than
he hath often done, in order to suit his Thoughts to the State and
Worship of Christianity. This I esteem his peculiar Excellency in
those Psalms wherein he has practis'd it."
In this spirit of accommodation to Christian feeling Pat-
rick did not hesitate to introduce the name of Christ, and
to address to Him specifically passages inviting such inter-
pretation.^*^
Patrick also, as his title-page indicates, exercised freely
the right of selection, the same privilege, he asserts in his
^'Preface to his Poetical Fragments.
^'Preface to The Psalms of David imitated, 1719; p. vi.
*°E. g., Psalm cxviii, part 2, verse 26: —
"Blest Saviour ! that from God to us
On this kind errand came,
We welcome thee ; and bless all those
That spread thy Glorious Fame."
54 THE ENGLISH HYMN
preface, as every parish clerk practises; and he frankly
avows that there is much in the Psalter unsnited, in his
opinion, to Christian use. In the preface to A Century of
Psalms, he says :
"I considered and pitched upon, those Psalms or portions of them
which were most proper and of most general use to us Chris-
tians. . . . But I balked those whose whole aspect was upon David's
personal troubles, or Israel's particular condition, or related to the
Jewish and legal Oeconomy, ... or where they express a temper
not so suitable to the mild and gentle spirit of the Gospel, such as our
Saviour repressed in his Disciples, not allowing imprecations of
vengeance against our Enemies, but rather praying for them; espe-
cially when that prophetick spirit do's not now rest upon us, that did
upon David. . . ."
The popularity of Patrick's version made these princi-
ples of evangelical interpretation and of selection familiar in
Nonconformist circles, and did something to undermine the
supremacy of the Old Version within the Church of Eng-
land, into some of whose parishes Patrick's version gradu-
ally worked its way. By 1691 his Century had reached its
fifth edition, and in that year he rounded it out to a full
version of the Psalter, which continued to be reprinted till
the middle of the XVIIIth century as The Psahiis of David
in metre: fitted to the tunes used in parish-churches.
But Patrick's special importance is as the forerunner and
exemplar of Dr. Watts, who in his work of turning the
Psalms into Christian hymns frankly announced himself as
following out more fully the lines instituted by Patrick. The
full extent of Watts' obligations to his predecessor is indeed
somewhat surprising. They cover not only the rhetorical
style and rhythmical treatment, but extend to the language
itself. Many lines in the two versions are identical ; many
more are reproduced by Watts with some alteration; and
there are even whole stanzas which he has l)()rrowed sub-
stantially unchanged. Dr. Watts announced his purpose to
be to "exceed" Dr. Patrick by applying his method to every
Psalm and by improving upon his verse."* ^
"Preface to The Psalms of David imitated.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 55
It was Patrick, therefore, who first occupied successfully
this middle ground between the Metrical Psalm and the
English Hymn. Actual priority in the device of giving an
evangelical turn to the Metrical Psalm belongs neither to
Patrick nor Watts. Both were anticipated by Luther, and
by the authors of Psalters in Switzerland and Holland. But
in England the priority rests with Patrick.
(3) The third line of the development of the ITymn .
from the Metrical Psalm was by extension of the principle
of Scripture paraphrase to cover the evangelical hymns and
other parts of the Bible.
Such extension was implicitly recognized in the original
Calvinistic settlement of Church Song. No divine prescrip-
tion was claimed for the Psalter. Calvin's Genevan Psalter
included as a matter of fact such materials as the Com-
mandments and Nunc Dimittis. From the first days of
psalm singing in England, a series of efforts began to pro-
vide paraphrases of other parts of Scripture for singing.
The Song of Solomon was especially favored, and before
the completion of the metrical Psalter, the first fourteen
chapters of The Actes of the Apostles, translated into
Englyshe metre, and dedicated to the Kynges most excellent
Maiestye, by Christ of cr Tye, Doctor in Musyke. . . . wyth
notes to eche chapter, to synge and also to play upon the
Lute (1553),^^ were actually sung in Edward Vlth's chapel.
But both in England and Scotland the zeal of the people
was for Psalmody, and the other paraphrases took no hold.
Versions of the evangelical canticles and other Prayer
Book materials, were prefixed, as has already appeared, to
the Psalter of 1562, without it may be any intention of
church use. If we are to believe Warton, William Whyt-
tingham introduced their use at once into his church at
Durham, "to accommodate every part of the service to the
psalmodic tone." "^^ However this may be, there was a
*"There is a facsimile in Robt. Steele, The earliest English Music
Printing, London, 1903, figure 13.
**History of English Poetry, Hazlitt's ed., 1871, vol. iv, p. 130.
56 THE ENGLISH HYMN
movement in the XVHth century to sing these paraphrases
in place of the corresponding prose passages in the Prayer
Book. One notes that in 1621, apparently for the first time,
the hymns appended to Sternhold and Hopkins are displayed
in the title, in The whole Booke of Psalmcs: with the
Hymnes evangelicall, and songs spiritnall. Composed into
4 parts by sundry authors, . . . newly corrected and en-
larged by Tho: Rauenscroft. This was a private venture,
but became a standard in Psalmody, and may have influenced
or merely recorded a changing fashion. The movement to
utilize the paraphrases was not to enlarge the Psalmody so
much as to get the canticles out of the hands of the choir
and into those of the people. In effect it made paraphrases,
of the canticles especially, a part of Psalmody in numer-
ous Puritan churches. It is surprising to find that this
practice survived the Restoration, and left traces in
XVIIIth century worship.^^
Apart from this there was a movement toward
Scriptural paraphrases in both England and Scotland
with a view of supplementing the felt deficiencies of
Psalmody.
In Scotland this showed itself in the proceedings result-
ing in the new Psalter of 1649-50. The hymns of the old
Scottish Psalter seem to have been ignored, and attention
was fixed upon the work of a small number of writers who
were claimants for recognition.
Foremost among them was the influential but eccentric
Zachary Boyd, three times Rector and twice Vice-Chan-
cellor of the University of Glasgow, in whose library a
mass of his work in paraphrasing Scripture remains in
Ms. Boyd published in 1644 The Garden of Zion, con-
taining in the first volume metrical histories of Scripture
" "It ought to be noted, that both the sixty-seventh and hundredth
Psalms, being inserted in the Common Prayer-Books in the ordinary
version, ought so to be used, and not to be sung in Sternhold and
Hopkins, or any other metre; as is now the custom in too many
churches." Chas. Wheatly, A rational Illustration of the Book of
Common Prayer, cap. 3, Sect. 13.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 57
characters, and in the second, metrical versions of Job,
Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and Solomon's Song. Under a sepa-
rate title, but with continuous paging was appended The
Holy Songs of the Old and New Testament. In or about
1646 he published The Psalmes of David in meeter. The
earliest copy known is of the 3rd edition of 1648, and copies
of this were sent to most of the Presbyteries with a preface
reading like a challenge to attention. To this edition "The
Songs of the Old and New Testament," numbering 16,
were appended.
The same act of the General Assembly of 1647 which or-
dered the revision of Rotis's Psalms had also recommended
"That Mr. Zachary Boyd be at the paines to translate the
other Scriptural Songs in meeter, and to report his travels
also to the Commission of Assembly, that after their exam-
ination thereof, they may send "the same to Presbyteries to
be there considered until the next Generall Assembly." '*•'''
The Assembly of 1648, in sending down the amended Rons,
also appointed "Master John Adamson and Mr. Thomas
Crafurd to revise the Labours of Mr. Zachary Boyd upon
the other Scripturall Songs," with a view to reporting them
to the next Assembly. ^"^ There is no record of such a
report upon Boyd's songs having reached the Assembly.
David Leitch, minister of Ellon, had also presented some
hymns of his own to the Commission of the Assembly in
1648, who took steps to further his labors, but do not
seem to have brought them before the Assembly itself.'*^
In February, 1650, the Commission called upon the Rev.
Robert Lowrie, then of Edinburgh, to exhibit his work in
versifying the Scripture songs.
With this request the effort to introduce Scripture songs
ceased, and the new Psalter appeared without them. This
result has been attributed somewhat vaguely to the "troub-
^''Acts of the General Assemblies, 1638-1649; ed. 1691, p. 354.
^'Ibid., p. 428.
"See D. J. Maclagan, The Scottish Paraphrases, Edinburgh, 1889,
PP- 2, 3-
58 THE ENGLISH HYMN
lous times." ^^ The record itself suggests a sufficient ex-
planation in the evident fact that the songs offered as avail-
able did not commend themselves to the Assembly or its
Commission; a situation readily accounted for by an ex-
amination of Boyd's crude work. We may agree with
Maclagan^® that those who had the improvement of the
Psalmody in hand thought it prudent to have the new
Psalter established as soon as possible without waiting for
Scriptural songs, which they expected would follow as soon
as a collection could be agreed on. With this expectation the
"troublous times" no doubt interfered.
In the years preceding the Revolution Patrick Symson,
an "outed" minister, deprived of his benefice at Renfrew,
occupied his compelled leisure by paraphrasing Scripture.
He published in 1685 a little book of Spiritual Songs or
holy Poems. A garden of true delight, containing all the
Scripture-Songs that are not in the Book of Psalms, to-
gether with several sweet prophetical and evangelical Scrip-
tures, meet to he composed into songs. Translated into
English meeter, and fitted to he sung with any of the com-
mon tunes of the Psalms (Edinburgh: Anderson).
Symson' s preface assumes that the Church's purpose to
add the other Scriptural songs to the Psalms still holds
good; and in this he was plainly justified, as after-proceed-
ings showed. But his preface recognizes also that in "put-
ting many more Scriptures into song than were intended
for such by the Spirit," he is merely trying experiments,
the success of which the Church must judge.
The General Assembly resumed its sessions after the
Revolution of 1689; and in December, 1695, Symson be-
came its moderator. In the month following, there was a
reference of his Spiritual Songs to the Commission for re-
vision.^^ Owing to the loss of the records further proceed-
ings cannot be followed, till in April, 1705, the Commission
**Rev. Jas. Mearns in Julian's Dictionary of Hyinnology, p. 1023.
*''The Scottish Paraphrases, p. 2.
""See Maclagan, op. cit., p. 6.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 59
was directed to revise Symson's book for public use, and re-
port to the next Assembly. The work was put into the
hands of two committees, one for the East, and one for the
West. The committees agreed to exclude Symson's experi-
ments in versifying passages of Scripture that were not
songs, so far as their public use was concerned, "seeing if
other places of Holy Scripture should be turned into meeter,
there would be no end." But they reported 26 versions of
Scripture songs as available after revision by a hand skilled
in "poecie." These the Assembly of 1706 sent down to
the Presbyteries for examination and report. ^^ So slight
was the response that the Assembly of 1707 continued the
reference.^^ That of 1708 ordered the Commission to ex-
amine the songs in the light of amendments suggested by
Presbyteries, and then to establish and issue them for pub-
lic use, as was formerly done with the Psalms in 1649.''^
The Commission appealed to the Synods for help in the
matter, and failed to elicit any of consequence. It became
plain that the Church felt no interest in the songs offered
it, and the Commission allowed the whole project to drop.^^
This whole movement toward paraphrases in Scotland
presents some curious features. We see, on the one hand,
a stirring within the church of dissatisfaction with the cur-
rent Psalmody and of sympathy with the movement of the
time to modify it. We see the ideal of the Hymn evolving
itself in men's minds, and gradually seeking expression in
their work. We see, on the other hand, practical hindrances
preventing any realization of the ideal in Scotland. There
was, to begin with, the prejudice of the plain people in
favor of the familiar Psalms. There was also the hindrance
from leadership which did not see its way clearly, and was
misled by the ambitious influences of authorship. But the
greatest hindrance of all was the paraphrasers themselves,
'^^Acts of the General Assembly, Edinburgh, 1843, p. 392.
^'Ibid., p. 419.
^Hbid., p. 430.
^'See Maclagan, op. eit., p. 9.
6o THE ENGLISH HYMN
whose work seemed to be the only available embodiment of
the new movement. Their work was of a quality so poor,
so far below even the standard of the Metrical Psalms, that
it gave even those most zealous for enlarging the Psalmody
a feeling of helplessness and indecision, soon merging into
hopelessness.
In Scotland, then, we have first to note the work of Boyd
and Symson as marking the beginning of the development
of the Hymn from the Psalm, and then to note that their
work became practically a bar to the introduction of para-
phrases into Scotland. The attempt to introduce their work
into public use reacted in favor of pure Psalmody. The de-
sire for other Scripture songs never perhaps died out, but
when those of Symson were consigned to oblivion in 1709
the whole movement followed them, not to emerge again
until the general Assembly of 1741.
In England the contemporaneous movement to supple-
ment the Psalms with other Scripture songs found its fullest
expression in the work of William Barton. Barton has
been well described as a "conforming Puritan," and was
probably vicar of St. Martin's, Leicester, at his death. Dur-
ing the whole of the Civil War period and long after the
Restoration he pursued two projects for the betterment of
Church Song with unflagging zeal. He stands at and, it
must be said, he crosses the dividing line between the old
Psalmody and the new Hymnody, and his work faces both
ways.
His earlier project was in line with the Puritan demand
for a "purer" version of the Psalter. He published in 1644
The Book of Psalms in metre close and proper to the
Hebrew. It was favorably received, and its third edition
(1646) was recommended by the Lords to the Westminster
Assembly as their preferred version. The contest between
the partisans of Rous and Barton prevented any version
from receiving the imprimatur of Parliament. It was a
great sorrow to Barton that his version failed to displace
the old Psalter, but the substance of it entered to some
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 6i
extent into the Scottish Psalms of David in mecter of
1650.
In the preface to his Psalter Barton gave preeminence to
the Psalms, and emphasized their appropriateness to present
day use. But in 1659 he took an opposite direction, and
published A Century of select Hymns, increased in 1670 to
Two Centuries,^^ and, after his death, published complete
by his son as Six Centuries of select Hymns and Spiritual
Songs collected out of the Holy Bible (London, 1688).
In the preface to the Centuries, Barton came out boldly
for hymns, with the proviso that they be founded on Scrip-
ture. He cited the example of the Apostles and early
Church and of the Bohemian Brethren. The hymns of the
Latin Church, on the other hand, proved how "horrid blas-
phemy" creeps into hymns forsaking the Scripture basis.
He condemns the "Complaint of a Sinner" and "Humble
Sute" in the Old Version as nonsensical or erroneous. But
in applying his principle to his own work, he allowed him-
self great liberties. It was enough that his hymns were
"collected out of the Bible." He selects passages and in-
dividual texts from one Testament or both, turns them into
verses, and weaves them into the unity of a mosaic hymn :
each hymn and often each stanza being preceded by the
"proof texts." Three of his Six Centuries are "Psalm
Hymns," in which he deals in the same way with the
Psalms, omitting Vk'hat he regards as unsuitable, and ex-
pounding "dark passages."
Are these productions translations or paraphrases or
hymns? In relation to the individual texts dealt with they
"Some malign influences were working against Barton. He com-
plains that the appearance of his Two Centuries was obstructed for
three years by fraud and injuriousness; that Four Centuries appeared
in 1668 without his knowledge and through deceit; that the adoption
of his Psalter was thwarted by enemies; and that an edition of 1500
was printed by stealth to supply Scottish churches that much pre-
ferred it to the ofificially adopted Psalms in meeter. Barton's protest
that he had no aim Imt that of promoting godliness perhaps furnishes
a key. Some may have thought so much zeal had an eye for personal
glory and profit, and have set about to diminish or share them.
62 THE ENGLISH HYMN
are translations, adhering closely to the English prose ver-
sion. In their freedom in handling and combining unre-
lated texts, they suggest the paraphrase. In motive and
intention and in their general effect they are clearly hymns.
Their author so named them : they were so regarded by his
contemporaries^*^ and by the hymn writers who followed
him.^^
Barton's work thus occupies the very point of transition
between the Metrical Psalm and the Hymn, and its influence
was very marked upon English Hymnody. In his own
Church his immediate influence was barred by the Restora-
tion, when the singing of Sternhold and Hopkins was re-
sumed just where it had left off at the Puritan Revolution,
and without spirit enough to seek improvement. But among
the Independents Barton's hymns as well as his psalms were
^"In a copy of the 1688 ed. of the Centuries a contemporary Ms. index
is bound in, showing "In what page of the Hymn Book Composed by
Mr. Wm. Barton to find any Scripture Therein translated."
""These hymns of Mr. Barton": Simon Browne, Hymns, 1720,
preface. The following (from Century I) will illustrate Barton's-
method and manner : —
HYMN 151. Mediator.
All People, &c.
/ Tim. 2. 5.
ONE God there is, and one alone,
and Mediator none but one;
The man whom we Christ Jesus call,
who gave himself full price for all.
/ Joh. 2. I, 3.
If any sin, we have on high
an Advocate to qualifie,
Jesus the Just, whose blood was spilt
to expiate our hanious guilt.
Rev. 5- 13-
Blessing and glory and renown
to him that on the Throne sits down,
And to the Lamb of God therefore
be praise and honour evermore.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 63
widely introduced and used in some places for a long time/'^
They accustomed the people to New Testament song and
to a freer handling of Scripture than obtained under Psalm-
ody. It was among the Independents that the new school
of hymn writers was to arise and conquer the churches.
And it was on them that Barton's influence told most, and
through them that he helped to fix the type and character of
the English Hymn as based upon Scripture and saturated
with it. There was no essential difference between Barton's
hymns collected out of Scripture and the succeeding hymns
based upon Scripture. Dr. Watts in the preface to his
Hymns and Spiritual Songs of 1707, has his eye on Barton
when he says : 'T might have brought some Text or other,
and applied it to the Margin of every Verse if this method
had been as Useful as it was easy." ^^
THE EVOLUTION OE THE ENGLISH HYMN
FROM DEVOTIONAL POETRY
I. Lack of the Hymnic. Motive in Pre-Restoration
Poets, Except Wither
The Reformation settlement of Congregational Song on
the basis of the Metrical Psalm was a turning away from the
historic source of Hymnody in the Latin Church. It in-
volved also an indefinite postponement of any enterprise to-
w^ard producing an original English Hymnody. The few
original hymns appended to the Psalters were not so much
a promise and beginning of such a Hymnody as a closing of
the account. In Churches given over to the singing of
metrical versions of Scripture the motive toward producing
hymns was largely lacking. Verse writing suggested by
ideals of worship took the current form of paraphrasing
"'The last ed. of the Centuries was in 1768.
"'P. xi.
64 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the Psalms. Devotional Averse felt free to clothe itself in
elaborated metres and to express itself in ways alien to the
unpoetic mind. To Spenser in Elizabeth's time and to
Milton in the Puritan period the "Hymn" meant the same
thing. It was a religious ode.
Ben Jonson, on the other hand, kept within the stricter
limits in the three hymns appearing in his Underwoods,
with the result that his "Hymn on the Nativity of my
Saviour" is still sung.^^ It is not however in the great poets
of any time that we seek the origins and development of
Hymnody. Their genius shrinks from liturgical restraints,
and their pride from what Tennyson called the common-
placeness of hymns.
Of the first group of religious poets under Elizabeth and
James, Southwell was a Roman Catholic priest; and some
of his carols and devotional pieces are now regarded as
contributions to the Hymnody of his Church. Sir John
Davies translated Psalms, but his "Hymnes" were addressed
to Queen Elizabeth. The Fletchers aimed at no contribu-
tion to Hymnody, though the "Drop, drop, slow tears" of
Phineas has been recently adopted.^^ Donne was a convert
from Catholicism, and wrote generally in an esoteric style,
but his touching lyric "Wilt Thou forgive" was frequently
sung in his presence as an anthem by the choristers of St.
Paul's Cathedral.^- Some minor poets of these reigns, such
as George Gascoigne, William Hunnis, Sir Nicholas Breton,
Hum fry Gifford, Francis Kinwelmersh, Timothy Kendall
and John Norden, furnish here and there among the more
numerous Psalm versions a few simple devotional strains,
generally personal and meditative and not intended for
music, which may nevertheless be regarded as hymns.''^
EHzabeth's reign and the years following were noted for
'""I sing the birth was born to-night"; no. 63 in The Oxford Hymn
Book, Clarendon Press, 1908.
*'No. 98 in The English Hymnal, Oxford, 1906.
*^Walton, Lives, 1670.
°*Most of them may be found in the three volumes of Select Poetry,
chiefly devotional, published by the Parker Society.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 65
an abundance of lyrical poetry adapted to music for solo
or' part singing in the home and friendly circle to the ac-
companiment of lute or viol. Among the song writers and
musicians, so often amorous or frankly pagan, Dr. Thomas
Campion, who was unquestionably a poet and musician,
deserves also to be ranked as a hymn writer. In his Two
Bookes of Ayres (c. 1613), "Pure Hymns, such as the
Seventh Day loves, do lead," the first book being given
over to "Diuine and Morall Songs." In these true spiritual
feeling is combined with lyrical beauty to a very unusual
degree, and a number are indeed hymns even in the practical
sense. His "Never weather-beaten sail more willing beat
to shore" is among the loveliest of the lyrics expressing
the heavenly-home sickness, and was included by Josiah
Conder in his Congregational Hymn Book of 1836. His
effective "View me, Lord, a work of Thine" is in The
Oxford Hymn Book, and other lyrics are equally available.
Campion in his treatise on Counterpoint showed him-
self observant of the current Psalmody, but he found
his way to the Hymn through the avenue of the song
book.«^
Quite apart from the song books, and indeed a marked
exception to the general trend of its time was The Hy nines
and Songs of the Church (1623) of George Wither. It is
in two parts, the first of Scriptural paraphrases, the second
of hymns for the festivals, holy days and special occasions
of the church. The hymns show a remarkable appreciation
of the office and character of the Hymn, in their tone of
simple piety, their method and structure. Many of them
wer« repeated, many added, in Wither's Halehiah or,
Britans Second Remembrancer (1641), a personal and
household handbook of praise.
"For the song books see Shorter Elizabethan Poems in Arber's "Eng-
lish Garner," especially A. H. Bullen's introduction. Campion, long
neglected, is now accessible in Bullen's charming volume, Thomas
Campion: songs and masques, London and New York, 1903, in "The
Muses' Library."
66 THE ENGLISH HYMN
But the thing really remarkable is the appearance, so un-
related to its time and surroundings, of this fully formed
hymn book for the Church of England. What its effect
might have been upon the church worship and upon the
development of a Church Hymnody, can only be surmised.
Wither, in his ambition and his sore need of money, ob-
tained from James I a patent that his Hymnes and Songs
should be bound up with every copy issued of the metrical
Psalter. The effect of this extraordinary proceeding was
disastrous. It aroused the animosity of the Company of
Stationers, who resorted to every expedient to make the
patent a dead letter until they secured its revocation.*^^
They were responsible for preventing the circulation of
Wither's hymns; as a result of which the hymns soon
passed into oblivion and left singularly little influence behind
them.^*^
In the group of sacred poets who flourished in the second
quarter of the XVIIth century, Quarles, Herbert, Crashaw.
Traherne and Vaughan, and even in Herri ck and other of
the court group, it is not difficult to find materials more or
less available for the hymn book, even though no such use
occurred to the writers. Quarles had the ear of the plain
people, and contributed six Psalm versions to the famous
Bay Psalm Book of 1640, but he had little lyrical feeling.
It has been thought'''^ that some of his Emblems might be
adapted as hymns. But Traherne's "An Hymn upon St.
Bartholomew's Day" is merely meditative verse. Herbert
delighted in sacred song, often singing his own pieces to
the viol. His actual connection with Hymnody came
through the appearance in 1697 of Select Hymns from Mr.
'*°See E. Farr's preface to his reprint of The Hymnes and Songs
in the "Library of Old Authors": and cf. Notes and Queries for
week ending January 13, 1912.
'^''Two have been rescued, and have found a modest place in modern
use : — "Come, O come, with pious lays," and "Behold the Sun that
seemed but now." These are perhaps Wither's best.
"'By Dr. Grosart, who yields Quarles considerable unearned space
in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 67-
Herbcrfs Temple, in which a C. M. recension of some of
his verses was attempted, and through his later influence
upon the Wesleys. In Donne's poetry Enghsh devotional
verse had recovered something of the churchly and Catholic
spirit which had been repressed in the Church of England,
and this Herbert inherited from Donne. But neither sought
or found the plane on which the Congregational Llymn
moves. Crashaw learned to worship in Herbert's Temple,
and published his own religious verses as Steps to the
Temple in 1646. He had gone over to the Church of
Rome, and, apart even from their structure, the mystical
contents of his hymns befit the ascetic retreat rather than
the church. He turned some of the Latin hymns into
English, and his notable version of Dies Irae is among the
earliest English versions. No doubt Vaughan, who also
learned his spirituality from Herbert, came the nearest of
the group to the spirit and form of the Hymn. His Sile.v
scintillans: or sacred poems and private eiaculations ap-
peared in 1650 (2nd ed., 1655) ; and from it a considerable
number of hymns have passed into the hymn books. Of
these the best known are "My soul, there is a countrie" and
"Up to those bright and glorious hills."
The work of this company of devotional poets of the
time of Charles I constitutes no doubt an epoch in the
history of English Sacred Poetry, but it did not either in
intent or in result mark the beginning of an English Hym-
nody. It is easy to discern in the poets a common purpose
to set apart their gifts to devotional use, but it is idle to ask
if they might not have dedicated them to the use of public
devotions, to have laid in other words the foundation of an
English Hymnody that should be lyrical. The public use
of hymns rather than psalms in worship was not as yet in
the air. Of all the company. Wither alone had it in mind,
and in his conception the Hymn was not lyrical but didactic
and wooden, and as much like current Psalm versions as
might be; as his own proposed Hymnes, in such strong con-
trast with his poetry, so amply prove.
68 THE ENGLISH HYMN
2. The New Hymn Writing (1664- 1693): the
Predecessors of Watts
But after the Restoration, with the palpable decadence
of the newly restored Psalmody in the Church of England,
as also among Nonconformists, and with the feeling after
hymns that was in both English and Scottish air, there came
a decided change in the aim and character of devotional
verse. The Metrical Psalm, though it was to linger, had
played its part : the paraphrase gave little satisfaction to the
conscious or unconscious feeling after hymns; and, with
the new demand, devotional feeling and homiletic intent
expressed themselves in English hymns. It is likely that the
revival of the "Catholic" element in Anglicanism, exhibited
in Donne's and Herbert's poetry, played some part in this
change by turning the attention of many back to the old
church Hymnody of the office l^ooks and to the English
versions of it always kept extant in England by Roman
Catholic poets and in current books of private devotions.
This influence appears in the "Psalms" for Sunday and
season in the Sermons and devotions (1659) of Thomas
Pestell, a former chaplain of Charles I ; and of which some
use as hymns has been made recently. Jeremy Taylor's
The Golden Grove, or a Manual of daily Prayers and
Lctanies fitted to the days of the zveek, (1655) is itself
Primerwise, and its hymns are "Festival Hymns accord-
ing to the manner of the Ancient Church. "^^ Taylor,
it is true, did not succeed in finding the plane of the Con-
gregational Hymn, but it will appear that the same influences
were not wanting upon some of the earliest of his suc-
cessors who did.
With Crossman (1664) and Ken (c. 1674) in the Eng-
lish Church, and Austin (1668) who had left it for the
"^Bishop Heber adapted two hymns from The Golden Grove: "Lord,
come away, why dost Thou stay?" and "Full of mercy, full of love"
(Hymns, 1827). The former was improved by Lord Nelson for The
Sarum Hymnal 1868, and passed into Church Hymns ("Draw nigh to
Thy Jerusalem, O Lord").
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 69
Roman, we may begin that succession of modern English
hymn writers which has never failed up to the present time.
Samuel Grossman was one of the ejected ministers of
1662, but soon afterward he conformed, and became Dean
of Bristol. In 1664 he published The Young Mans Moni-
tor, to which was appended (with separate pagination)
The Young Mans Meditation, or some few sacred Poems
upon select subjects and Scriptures. These are in the psalm
metres, and are clearly hymns. That they were thought
more likely to be read than sung we may infer from the
motto used: "A Verse may find him whom a Sermon flies."
Two of these hymns were brought to modern notice by
Lord Selborne, and are found in current hymnbooks."^
Grossman's work suggests Puritan ratlier than Gatholic
influences.
A striking group of thirty-nine hymns^*^ appeared in
John Austin's Devotions, in the ancient zvay of OiEces: with
Psalms, Hymns and Prayers; for every day in the week,
and every holiday in the year (Paris, 1668). It was a most
influential book, of which four editions preserved its
Roman form; and which, modified twice for Anglican use,
was reprinted as late as 1856. Except for two or three from
Grashaw the hymns are original,^^ and give Austin a dis-
tinguished place among the earliest English hymn writers.
There is ample evidence that these fervid hymns found im-
mediate acceptance beyond the bounds of Austin's own
Ghurch. As we shall see, they were at once appropriated
by those endeavoring to introduce Hymnody into the Ghurch
of England.
Thomas Ken had been educated at Winchester Gollege
under the Puritan regime, and returned to it in some
capacity in 1665. In 1674 he published A Manual of
Prayers for the use of the scholars of Winchester College,
which contained the injunction: "Be sure to sing the Morn-
"' "My Song is love unknown," and "My Life's a Shade, my daies."
™43 in 3rd ed. : the additions perhaps by the editor.
"The best may be found in Lord Selborne's Book of Praise.
JO THE ENGLISH HYMN
ing and Evening Hymn in your chamber devoutly." Though
Ken's Morning and Evening hymns, now so well known,
were not included in the Manual till after 1694, we may
conclude that they were thus in use within a few years of
the Restoration. In these we can hardly fail to recognize
an independent beginning of modern hymn writing and
singing; not developed out of Puritan precedents, but sug-
gested by the models of the Breviary. The Latin hymns
had been sung in the daily services of Winchester College
up to the Reformation, and not improbably until Ken's
own school days.'^" But in any case a Breviary, Missal and
several works on the Liturgy were among Ken's cherished
books. ^^ He was evidently attracted by the old church
ritual, and his hymns have caught the tone of the Breviary
Hymns. "^
Bishop Ken's hymns have had a marked influence upon
English Hymnody in the direction of simplicity, but it must
not be assumed that they had immediate influence upon the
situation of their time. The Manual was a popular little
book, often reprinted, but it is to be remembered that the
hymns were not in it till the close of the XVIIth century.
They were apparently sung in the school from Ms. or
printed sheets, and only in 1692 were published in a pam-
phlet without Ken's knowledge or approval. ^^ Until then
at least they could not have been widely known.
Richard Baxter, an ejected minister of 1662, has left on
record^" his enthusiasm for psalm singing, and left also
an unpublished version of the Psalms. But his Poetical
Fragments of 1681 contained several original hymns. ^^
"See E. H. Plumptre, Life of Thomas Ken, n. d., vol. i, p. 34.
^^Ibid., vol. ii, appendix ii, p. 297.
"Ken plainly knew also Sir Thomas Browne's bedside hymn in
Religio Medici, "The night is come, like to the day."
'■^See Dr. Julian in his Dictionary of Hymnology, 2nd ed., p. 1650.
'"Epistle to the Reader in Poetical Fragments, 1681.
"The hymn "Now [Lord] it belongs not to my care," taken from his
"My whole, though broken heart, O Lord," is still widely used. His
Paraphrase on the Psalms was printed in 1692.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 71
They were intended for singing, with the stanzas numbered,
and a reference of each hymn to the appropriate psalm-tune.
While his contribution to modern Hymnody is but small,
his figure seems to have stood for something like a centre
of the Restoration Hymn Movement, as the close friend of
Mason and apparently the begetter of Barton, who traces
his work to Baxter's request that he versify the Te Dcum."^^
The work of John Mason, rector of Water-Stratford,
was at the time far more influential than Ken's. He pub-
lished in 1683 Spiritual Songs, or Songs of Praise to Al-
mighty God upon several occasions. Together with the
Song of Songs. . . . paraphrased in English verse. To
this, in 1693, the inferior Penitential Cries of his friend
Thomas Shepherd were added.
Mason's preface is a call to sing God's praises, and the
songs are in the CM. of the psalm book, and numbered
as in a hymn book.'^'^ They are not paraphrases, but free
hymns, and it is curious to note the effort to connect them
at least mechanically with the strict paraphrases of Solo-
mon's Song.
Mason worked within the limits of the Church of Eng-
land, but his close friendship with Baxter and the associa-
tion of his work with that of the nonconformist Shepherd,
indicate no doubt his real position and sympathies. The
great circulation and influence of his hymns was among
Nonconformists. His book was in its 8th edition at the
date of the appearance of Watts' Hymns. Mason's work
had a great influence on Watts, and must be credited with
a considerable share both in moulding and in popularizing
the English Hymn.
It thus appears that between the dates of the Restoration
and the Revolution there arose a not inconsiderable group
of original hymn writers, whose work in volume, in char-
acter, and in influence, counted for something in the history
. "See "Epistle" in his Two Centuries.
""'My Lord, my Love, was crucified," and "Now from the altar of
my heart," are the most familiar.
^2. THE ENGLISH HYMN
of the English Hymn. It is clear that these earlier writers
deprive Dr. Watts of that extreme originality often ascribed
to him as "The father of the English Hymn." And yet we
shall not be far out of the way if we regard this earlier
group as the Predecessors of Dr. Watts. Their work was
necessarily somewhat tentative, because it was not until the
appearance of Watts' Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707
that the type of the English Hymn was definitely de-
termined.
CHAPTER II
THE LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS
I
THE DENOMINATIONAL DIVISIONS OF CHURCH
SONG AT THE RESTORATION (1660)
We have considered the development of the EngHsh
Hymn from the Metrical Psalm. As the Metrical Psalm
had been originally cast into the mould of the Congrega-
tional Hymn, the change was in the subject matter rather
than in the form. This change we have followed through
its several phases, from a close translation of canonical
Scripture, to a freer paraphrase first of Psalms then of
other Scriptural songs, and up to the point where the pur-
pose of turning Scriptural materials into metre met the
impulse to give hymnic form to devotional poetry, and
coincided in the production of hymns, freely composed and
yet more or less based upon Scripture.
The movement toward hymns was always a liturgical
one. It had for its motive the enrichment of English wor-
ship rather than of English literature. The same thing was
true of the Hymn Movement in the period following the
Restoration. But what gave it special significance was the
weakened hold of the old Psalmody upon the people, the
number of men who concerned themselves with the new
movement, and the acceptable character of the new hj'^mns
themselves. Under such conditions hymn singing began
to be practicable, and there followed almost at once a series
of experiments in that direction, out of which has developed
the now general practice of singing hymns in English-speak-
ing Churches.
73
74 THE ENGLISH HYMN
We have now, therefore, to trace these early efforts to
introduce the new hymns into pubhc worship. They He
within the same period as the tentative hymn writing with
which they were closely related; beginning soon after the
Restoration of 1660, and culminating with the publication
in 1707 of Watts' Hymns and Spiritual Songs, which
marked an epoch in the use of hymns as well as in their
composition.
During the whole of this period we may exclude Scot-
land from consideration ; for such movement toward hymns
as appeared there during these years did not get beyond
the "Scripture Songs" stage, and even so far was quite
ineffective.
Turning to England, it is to find the ecclesiastical situa-
tion such as makes impracticable anything like a concerted
movement to introduce hymns into worship. At the Restora-
tion the Church of England regains its established position
and reinstates the Prayer Book services. The various com-
munities already formed outside the church, principally
Independents, Baptists and Friends, refuse to conform to
these services, and become "dissenters." The Presbyterian
elements which had maintained Puritan ideals of worship
within the Church are by the ejectment of their clergy in
1662 forced to take up a position alongside the dissenters.
This whole body of dissent, beyond agreeing in disuse of
the Prayer Book, fails to find a common basis for worship ;
and each of the new sects proceeds to deal with questions
of worship in its own way. The breach in the uniformity
of English worship thus becomes permanent. The Con-
venticle Act of 1664 does nothing to heal the breach, and
very little in the way of suppressing the novel types of
worship.
As with worship in general in the Restoration period, so
with Congregational Song in particular. It ceases to be a
common stream, but divides into denominational branches.
Along these branches severally we have to look for the
introduction of hymns into public worship.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 75
II
JOHN PLAYFORD LEADS A MOVEMENT TO IN-
TRODUCE HYMN SINGING IN THE RE-
ESTABLISHED CHURCH (1671-1708)
In resuming the Prayer Book services and the old Psalm-
ody at the Restoration, there was much needing to be re-
habilitated. The dilapidations of the Commonwealth period
told most severely against worship of the cathedral or
choral type. The choirs had been scattered, and many of
the organs destroyed. But even the reinstatement of Con-
gregational Psalmody in parish churches was effected with
some difficulty. The authorities were indifferent, the people
unconcerned and irreverent, and the ability to read and sing
music was largely lost. John Playford tells us that "almost
all the choice tunes are lost, and out of use in our
Churches."^ The practice of lining out the psalm had come
in, but even in London there were few parish cferks who
could set the tune correctly : — "It having been a custom
during the late wars and since to choose men into such
places, more for their poverty than skill or ability, whereby
this part of God's service hath been so ridiculously per-
formed in most places that it is now brought into scorn and
derision by many people."^
It was in connection with his efforts to improve these
musical conditions that John Playford attempted to intro-
duce the new hymns into parochial worship. He was a
music publisher of prominence, with a shop in the Inner
Temple, and since 1653 parish clerk of the Temple Church.^
His Introduction to the skill of Musick (London, 1654) was
already a standard when in 1671 he issued his Psahiis and
Hymns in solemn musick of foure parts on tlie common
^Preface to Psalms and Hymns, 1671.
"■Ibid.
^The account of this interesting man in The Dictionary of National
Biography needs to be corrected by that in Grove's Dictionary of Music ;
and the numerous allusions to him in the Diary of Mr. Pepys (who
often "went to Playford's") add the human touch.'
76 THE ENGLISH HYMN
tunes to the Psahns in metre: used in Parish-Churches.
Also six Hymns for one voycc to the organ. This book is
not a new musical setting of the authorized Psalter with its
appendage of hymns, or indeed a Psalter of any sort. It is
a selection of "Psalms and Hymns" mingling together for
the first time on a common footing. The hymns are not
segregated, but interspersed among the psalms; each hymn
following the psalm tune to which it is set. The psalms
were chosen from various current Psalters, including the
authorized Sternhold and Hopkins. The hymns number
seventeen.^ Of these, fourteen are taken from John Austin's
Roman Catholic Devotions in the ancient way of Offices,
published three years earlier. The remaining three seem
to have been written or acquired for this book, and deserve
mention in connection with early hymn writing. One in
CM. (to "Canterbury Tune") begins "O Lord my Saviour
and support" : one in the metre of the 148th Psalm begins
"Praise to our God proclaim" ; and both are anonymous.
The third, entitled "A Hymn for Good Friday," begins
"See, sinful soul, thy Saviour's suffering see," and is signed
"W. Stroud, D.D."
None of these hymns was introduced into church use by
means of Playford's book, which was not kindly received.
He attributed its failure to its folio size and its not con-
taining all the Psalms in their order, which "made it not
so useful to carry to Church."^ To which considerations
must be added the fact that the tunes, partly from Ravens-
croft and partly new, were arranged for male voices, and
were beyond the reach of the skill of the period. Apart
from such inconveniences of detail, Playford's general pro-
posal of substituting a selection of "Psalms and Hymns"
for the accepted system of Psalmody was too precipitate.
Having thus made his first venture with a musician's in-
dependence and failed, Playford turned a publisher's eye
■"The six "Divine Songs for One Voyce" at the end of the book
may be excluded as not being hymns in the usual sense of the word.
'^Preface of 1677.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS yy
toward the actual market. He made up his mind that what
was practicable was an edition of the Old Version in port-
able size to take the place of Ravenscroft's, with some in-
felicities of the ancient text corrected, and with the tunes
set in plain counterpoint for mixed voices. In 1677 he pub-
lished: The whole Book of Psaluis: ivith the usual Hymns
and Spiritual Songs; together with all the ancient and
proper tunes sung in cJiurches, zvith some of later use. Com-
pos d in three parts, cantus, medius, & bassus: in a more
plain and useful method than hath been formerly published.
The phrase "with the usual Hymns" creates the impres-
sion that in profiting by his experience of 1671 Playford
gave over his attempt to introduce new hymns, and was
now simply reprinting the hymns that had always been
appended to the Old Version. He did, in fact, drop all but
one of the hymns offered in 1671 ; and we may infer that
they had not proved acceptable. But in his preface he
still maintains the parity of psalms and hymns, and cites
the precedents of "The usual Hymns" and of Barton's Tzvo
Centuries of select Hymns. In the body of his book he
preserves the form of the original appendages of hymns,
one before and one following the psalms, but he deals very
freely with the contents. In the group before the psalms
he retains the Veni Creator, Te Deum, Benedictus, Magni-
ficat and Nunc Dimittis of the Old Version, adds Cosin's
Veni Creator, and provides new metrical versions of the
Lord's Prayer, Creed and Commandments. The group fol-
lowing the psalms, entitled "The Rest of the Solemn
Hymns," begins with the Benedicite, followed by four of
the Old Version hymns (the- Humble Suit, the Lamentation,
"O Lord in Thee," and the Prayer after the Command-
ments). Then follow :
Hymn after Communion, "All glory be to God on high" ( a version
of Gloria in Excelsis).
Hymn for Sunday, "Behold we come dear Lord to thee" (by John
Austin).
Morning Hymn, "Now that the Day-star doth arise" (Cosin's version
of Jam liicis orto sidcre).
78 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Hymn on Divine Use of Miisick, "We sing to thee whos wisdom
form'd" (it had appeared in Dr. Natl. Ingelo's Bentivoglio and Urania,
London, 1660).
Remembering that Playford was adapting himself to
current taste, both his freedom in deahng with the old
hymns of the Psalter and his restraint in introducing new
hymns show how slight a hold hymns of any sort had upon
the people. The actual influence of Playford's book was
by way of prolonging the period of psalm singing. It be-
came the standard setting of the Old Version. During the
rest of the XVIIth and for much of the XVIIIth century it
was the dependence of these who clung to the old ways,
reaching its twentieth edition in 1757. During this long
period Playford's appendages of hymns kept their place in
his Psalter, and his Psalter was carried to church by great
numbers of people. But it cannot be affirmed that they
made much more use of the new hymns than their fathers
had made of the hymns originally printed in the Psalters.
An addiction to the continued use of the Old Version be-
came, in fact, the particular form in which indifference or
opposition to hymns expressed itself.
But at the opening of the XVIIIth century two books
appeared that aimed at the introduction of hymns into pa-
rochial worship; in the one case as supplementing the use
of the Old Version, in the other that of the Neza. The
more ambitious of these two books was the private venture
of Ilenry Playford, who had succeeded to the business of
his father, John Playford, and was aml)itious to carry for-
ward his father's work. He published in 1701 The Divine
Companion; or, David's Harp new tun'd. Being a choice
collection of new and easy Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems.
The words of the Psalms being collected from the newest
versions. Compos'd by the best Masters and fitted for the
use of those, who already understand Mr. John Playford's
Psalms in three parts. To be used in cliurchcs or private
families, for their greater advancement of dii'inc music.
This book was designed as a supplement to the Old Version
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 79
used in the churches, with a view to its being bound up
with John Playford's musical edition first pubHshed in
1677. Its plan and purpose, however, were taken from the
earlier Playford book of 1671. It opened with six Psalm
versions set to tunes by Dr. Blow. These were followed by
twelve hymns set by various composers, to which in later
editions more hymns were added. At the end was a group
of anthems. In the hymns John Austin predominates, as he
did in 1671 ; but Crashaw, Herbert and Drummond are also
represented.
The Divine Companion had a temporary success; that is
to say, its reprinting was several times called for. This
success is to be attributed mainly to its tunes rather than
to the richness of its hymnody, but the words of the hymns
set to the new tunes cannot have been altogether overlooked.
To what extent or in what quarters they may have been
introduced into parochial worship does not appear. Such
use was readily accomplished in parishes where lining was
practised. Not one of them played any part in the future
hymnody of the Church of England. It may be, on the
other hand, that Playford's book exercised a certain influ-
ence in keeping the idea of hymn singing before the mind
of the Church of England.
The other of the books referred to as appearing at the
opening of the XVIIIth century was much more modest in
form, but it had a more substantial backing, and was to
prove much more influential. It was directly connected
with the current movement to improve Psalmody repre-
sented by the New Version of Tate and Brady published in
1696.^ Even the party of progress in Psalmody was no
doubt more immediately concerned to get a more literary
version of the Psalms than to introduce hymns. The New
Version first appeared without music and without even *'the
usual hymns," but in all probability a provision of suitable
tunes and a small appendage of hymns was a part of the
original scheme. At the end of the second edition of
*See chapter i, part iv.
8o THE ENGLISH HYMN
1698 there is an announcement of "A Supplement to the
New Version," to contain "The Usual Hymns," "Select
Psalms clone in particular Measures," with "A Collection
of the most usual Church-Tunes." It contains also a
promise of "Additional Hymns for the Holy Sacrament,
Festivals, &:c."
The Supplement to the New Version of Psalms by Dr.
Brady and Mr. Tate appeared in 1700 (London, printed by
J. Heptinstall), in sheets with a view to binding up with
the Nezv Version. In respect of hymns, the standpoint of
the Supplement differs little from that of Play ford's Whole
Book. It has sixteen hymns in all. Ten are simply fresh
paraphrases (in the fluent style of the New Version itself)
of "the usual hymns." The "Additional Hymns" promised
in the advertisement are six :
1. Song of the Angels at the Nativity. "While Shepherds watch'd
their Flocks by Night."
2. For Easter-Day [First Hymn]. "Since Christ, our Passover, is
slain."
3. [Second Hymn]. "Christ from the Dead is rais'd, and made."
Three Hymns for Holy Communion.
4. Hymn I. "Thou God, all Glory, Honour, Pow'r."
5. Hymn H. "All ye, who faithful Servants are."
6. Hymn HI. The Thanksgiving in tJie Church Communion-Service.
"To God be Glory, Peace on Earth."
These also are paraphrases, five of Scriptural passages,
one of the Gloria in Excelsis; and the Scripture texts are
noted here as carefully as by William Barton himself. This
little group of hymns, marking no advance in principle over
Playford's, was yet of much more significance in the history
of the Hymn; owing to its association with the New Ver-
sion which looked toward the future rather than with the
Old Version which was a survival from the past. These
hymns were thus sown on comparatively good ground, and
if they did not spring up immediately and if they did not
multiply, they, at all events, were not trodden under the
feet of the psalm singers.
The Supplement to the Nezv Version was authorized for
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 8i
use in churches by the Queen and Council on July 30, 1703.
It became a very popular little book, often reprinted, but
not a constituent part of the Psalter, as the appendages of
the Old Version had been. It is the exception rather than
the rule to find the Supplement even bound in with the
XVIIIth century copies of Tate and Brady, which have sur-
vived in great numbers. It follows that the hymns of the
Supplement could not have been sung as freely as the
psalms in churches using Tate and Brady, unless they were
lined out. But they evoked a limited interest, which it was
attempted to quicken by adding three hymns to the sixth
edition of 1708.^
This group of hymns in the Supplement marks the limit
of anything in the nature of an authorized provision for
hymn singing in the Church of England during the period
under review. It was sufficient to establish the principle
that hymns were allowable as supplementary to the psalms.
The actual practice of parochial hymn singing which it
represents must seem small, when we remember that Tate
and Brady was only then making headway into London
churches, and for long afterward was hardly known beyond
the bounds of that diocese. These hymns served for a be-
ginning in a time of apathy and musical decadence, and
were destined under happier conditions to be taken up and
enlarged in number, and even to be embodied within the
sacred covers of the Prayer Book itself as a recognized
feature of Church of England worship.
The Supplement does not, of course, stand for the w^hole
body of hymn singing within the Church of England at
the time. There was no likelihood of interference with the
general or occasional use of other hymns from the various
books that were, as we have seen, available ; and it is alto-
gether likely that they found such use by some of progres-
sive spirit. And we have also to take account of the ad-
'They were the Bcnedicite and a recast of "O Lord, turn not thy
Face away," from the Old Version appendage, and the "Hymn on the
Divine Use of Musick" from Playford's Psalter of 1677.
82 THE ENGLISH HYMN
varices toward hymn singing on that Puritan side of the
Church which had least regard for the Prayer Book system,
under the leadership of such men as Barton, Baxter, and
Mason, and the Puritan recurrence to the hymns appended
to the Old Version.
Ill
RICHARD BAXTER LEADS A MOVEMENT TO
INTRODUCE HYMNS AMONG THE EJECTED
PRESBYTERIANS (1661-1708)"
The subject-matter of Congregational Song was one of
the very numerous issues raised by the Presbyterian divines
in the Church of England before the Savoy Conference of
1661 called by Charles II "to advise upon and review the
said Book of Common prayer."^ They took the Puritan
attitude of seeking for "a purer version'* than the accepted
Stcrnhold and Hopkins. The Xllth of their exceptions
against the liturgy was as follows :
"XII. Because singing of Psalms is a considerable part of Publick
Worship, we desire that the Version set forth and allowed to be
sung in Churches may be mended, or that we may have leave to
make use of a purer Version."
In Baxter's "Reformed Liturgy," which seems to have
been presented at the same time,^ there is something like a
bill of particulars :
"Concerning the Psalms for Publick use. We desire that, instead of
the imperfect version of the Psalms in Meeter now in use, Mr. William
Bartons Version, and that perused and approved by the Church of
*For the King's warrant for the Conference, see The Grand Debate
between the most Reverend the Bishops, and the Presbyterian Divines,
appointed by His Sacred Majesty, as Comviissioncrs for the review
and alteration of the Book of Common Prayer, &c. London, Printed
1661, p. (iv.) : more fully in E. Cardwell's Conferences . . . con-
nected with the revision of the Book of Common Prayer, Oxford, 2nd
ed, 1841, pp. 298 ff.
°C/. Cardwell, op. cit., p. 260.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 83
Scotland there in use (being the best that we have seen) may be
received and corrected by some skilful men, and both allowed (for
grateful variety) to be Printed together on several Columes or Pages,
and publickly used; At least until a better than either of them shall
be made." '"
In view of the actual status of Psalmody in the Church
of England, and of the terms of the King's warrant, it is
not surprising that the bishops should have answered the
Presbyterian exception and desire by saying, "Singing of
Psalms in metre is no part of the Liturgy, and so no part
of our commission. "^^ But the Presbyterians chose to
regard this as quibbling, and replied :
"If the word Liturgy signifie the publick Worship, God forbid we
should exclude the singing of Psalms : And sure you have no fitter
way of singing than in Meeter. , . . We hope you make no ques-
tion, whether singing Psalms, and Hymns were part of the Primitive
Liturgy, and seeing they are set forth, and allowed to be sung in all
Churches of all the people together, why should they be denied to be
part of the Liturgy? We understand not the reason of this."'"
In "The Grounds of Nonconformity of the Ministers
who were Ejected," afterwards drawn up by Calamy, among
"other things ... by some possibly less regarded" was
that in order to subscribe to the Prayer Book "They must
consent to the Mistranslation of the Psalter."^^
These extracts make it abundantly plain that the Presby-
terians had much zeal for psalm singing, and that they
demanded authorization for a more correct version of the
Scripture Psalms. But they make it equally clear that an
insistence that congregational song be confined to canonical
Psalms or even to Scriptural songs was no part of the
Presbyterian position or demand. They raised no objection
'^"A Petition for Peace: with the reformation of the Liturgy. As
it was presented to the Right Reverend Bishops, by the Divines ap-
pointed by His Majesties Commission to treat with them about the
alteration of it. London, printed Anno Dom. MDCLXL, p. 41.
"Cardwell, op. cit., p. 342.
^'The Grand Debate, p. 79.
"Edmund Calamy, An Abridgement of Mr. Baxter's History of his
Life and Times, etc., 2nd ed., London, 1713, vol. i, p. 234.
84 THE ENGLISH HY.AIN
to the hymns of the Old J\^rsion bound up with the Prayer
Book, whether paraphrases or "of human composure." On
the contrary the "Reformed Liturgy" drawn up by Baxter,
but laid before the Savoy Conference with the general
consent of the Presbyterian divines/^ as a desired alternative
to certain parts of The Book of Common Prayer,^^ contains
this rubric at the end of "The Order of celebrating the
Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ" : "Next sing
some part of the Hymn in meeter, or some other fit Psalm of
Praise (as the 23. 116. or 103. or 100, &c.)." ^^ The hymn
referred to is the Thanksgiving at the end of the Old Ver-
sion ("The Lord be thanked for his gifts") ; and the rubric
reflects the accustomed use by these divines not only of
this hymn but of others appended to the Psalter, with a
special predilection for the metrical paraphrases of Prayer
Book canticles,
"Those that published the Old Church-Psalms," Baxter
said in the preface to his own posthumous Paraphrase on
the Psalms of David in metre, with other Hymns (London
1692), "added many useful Hymns, that are still printed
with the Psalms in Metre." And he makes clear the actual
limits of the Presbyterian position by saying in explanation
of the literalness of his own version of the Scripture Psalms,
— "I durst not venture on the Paraphrastical great liberty
of others; I durst make Hymns of my own, or explain the
Apocryphal ; but I feared adding to God's Word, and mak-
ing my own to pass for God's."
Baxter's hymn making has been already referred to; but
he was in fact the leader at once of the Presbyterians
and of the movement to introduce hymn singing into the
churches. He was, as has already been said, "the only
begetter" of William Barton's Centuries of Hymns, which
"Calamy, op. cit., vol. i, p. 158.
^^The petition was that "the several particulars" of this liturgy "be
inserted into the several respective places" of the Prayer Book, "and
left to the Ministers choice to use the one or the other." A Petition
for Peace, p. 22.
''Ibid., p. 58.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 85
began to appear in 1659, but he occupied ground far in ad-
vance of Barton's ventures. He held that hymns had been
sung from the beginning; that "doubtless Paul meaneth not
only David's Psalms, when he bids men sing with grace in
their hearts, Psalms, and Hymns, and Spiritual Songs : Yea,
it is past doubt, that Hymns more suitable to Gospel-times,
may and ought to be now used: And if used, they must be
premeditated ; how else shall Congregations sing them? And
if premeditated, they must be some way imposed; How
else shall the Congregations all joyn in the same."^^
It is not likely that most, or perhaps many, of Baxter's
colleagues shared to the full these advanced views of his
singularly independent mind and temper : nor did his influ-
ence establish a distinctive Presbyterian usage of hymn
singing. The years following the Ejectment of 1662 were
years of poverty and distress, if not of actual persecution,
for many of the ministers who had been driven from their
parsonages and livings. The Conventicle Act and the Five
Mile Act interfered with the assembling of Presbyterian
congregations. The groups of people who still gathered
about their ejected pastors for the simple rites of worship,
so far as they ventured to sing at all, doubtless satisfied their
craving for a purer version of the Psalms by employing
some one of the current Psalters of the more literal type.
With the Revolution of 1688 and the Toleration Act of
William and Mary in the year following, Presbyterian wor-
ship came under the sanction of the law, and in a single
generation hundreds of Presbyterian meeting houses were
built throughout England. They conformed to a common
pattern. Internally the great canopied pulpit dominated :
beneath it a desk for the precentor, or, more often, "the
table pew," w^ith the communion table in the centre, and
around it the seats which were then or later occupied by
the singers on non-sacramental occasions. ^^ In the failure
"Preface to Paraphrase on the Psalms.
^Xf. A. H. Drysdale, History of the Presbyterians in England,
London, 1889, p. 443.
86 THE ENGLISH HYMN
to establish any church organization, no general principle
regulated the congregational song, and no book was pro-
vided for common use by the congregations. Psalm singing
prevailed, and the Scottish Psalms of Daz'id in mecter of
1650 seems to have been adopted pretty generally. The
pastors were free to supplement the psalms with hymns,
and, in the prevalence of the practice of "lining," could
accomplish it without providing books for the congregation.
Among the ministers of the later or meeting house era of
Presbyterianism there was much diversity of sentiment and
practice in the matter of hymn singing. Matthew Henry,
who, like Baxter, took great delight in Psalmody, both in
public and private, favored hymn singing but preferred
Scriptural psalms and hymns to those wholly of human
composition as likely to have more of matter and less of
fancy. ^^ He prepared and printed in 1695 a little volume
of Family Hynms, altered and enlarged in a second edition
of 1702. It was designed to encourage Psalmody in the
home and thus to improve the singing in church, and was
introduced by him into his own services.^*^ With the ex-
ception of Tc Dcum, the hymns are taken from Scripture,
current translations being freely used. Verses out of sev-
eral Psalms are gathered together to make up a hymn, in
the manner of Barton, with whose standpoint Henry's book
may be said to agree.
On the other hand James Pierce of Exeter, whose Arian
leanings were not yet suspected, held the strictest views in
the way of confining Church Song to the inspired Psalms,
discontinuing even the use of the doxology. In his Vindi-
ciac fratriim disscnticntium in Anglia^^ he argued for the
^°J. B. Williams, Memoirs of the Rev. Matthew Henry, London,
1828, p. no.
'"Ibid., p. no.
"London, 1710. In English, as A Vindication of the Dissenters,
London, 1717. In 1786 Mr. Brand Hollis reprinted from it A Tractate
on Music (London), for distribution in the First Church of Boston,
with a view to meeting the movement to procure an organ for that
church.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 87
use of "plain tunes," and, strenuously, against the employ-
ment of instrumental music, Pierce's attitude toward hymns
was exceptional rather than characteristic of the Presby-
terianism of the time ; and it is quite likely that any who
shared in it may have sought an Old Testament Psalmody
as offering an available refuge from rising Christological
perplexities.
The temper and tone of current English Presbyterianism
was better represented in the persons of the Presbyterian
divines of Dublin and the south of Ireland. It had indeed
been carried there by the eminent Joseph Boyse, just as
the Scottish type had been transplanted in the North of
Ireland. By his hymn writing Boyse is entitled to a place
among the predecessors of Dr. Watts, but in view of the
lack of permanence^^ in his contributions to Hymnody,
he is more interesting as one of the early leaders in Presby-
terian hymn singing. He published in 1693 Sacramental
Hymns collected (chiefly) out of such passages of the New
Testament as contain the most suitable matter of Divine
Praises in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. To which
is added one hymn relating to Baptism and another to the
Ministry. By J. Boyse, with some by other hands. This
appeared at Dublin, and in the same year at London from
the press of Thomas Parkhurst, the printer of Matthew
Henry's Family Hymns. It contains forty-one pieces by
Boyse, one by George Herbert, and two by Simon Patrick ;
and in the baptismal hymn immersion is the only mode
recognized. In 1701 he published at Dublin Family Hymns
for morning and evening worship. With some for the
Lord's Days. . . . All taken out of the Psalms of David.
To each volume is prefixed the recommendation of six
Dublin ministers, a significant testimony as to local senti-
ment and usage.
Of Boyse's resolute Presbyterianism there can be no
question. But if we take the whole body of Noncon-
"Two stanzas by him were included in James Martineau's Hymns
for the Christian Church and Home, London, 1840 (No. 42).
88 THE ENGLISH HYMN
formist meeting houses in England at the beginning of the
XVnith century, it is by no means easy to make partition
of them between Presbyterians and Independents, who
showed so marked a disposition to affiliate. This uncer-
tainty applies to the sentiments of the congregations, to
the affiliations of the ministers who occupied the pulpits,
even to the terms of the trust-deeds by which the meeting
houses were held. And it applies, of course, to the hymn
singing, Presbyterianism was not destined to establish it-
self in England, and its meeting houses were about to fall
into the control of men of Arian theology. The congre-
gational song of these meetings was first to come under
the domination of Dr. Watts, and then to develop into a
Unitarian Hymnody. Apart from this stream of Church
Song, thus diverted from its original channel, the early
Presbyterian hymn singing seems to have no part or repre-
sentation in the great Hymn Movement of the XVIIIth
century, which it is customary to trace to its source in Inde-
pendency. But the actual facts seem to be that behind the
earl}^ Nonconformist hymn singing there was no Independ-
ent leader before Watts so influential and so outspoken as
Richard Baxter, and that the Presbyterian divines had an
inadequately recognized share in laying the foundations of
modern English Hymnody.
Too little notice has been taken, for instance, of the efforts
of Samuel Bury, a Presbyterian leader in Suffolk. He made
a careful study of all available sources of hymns, and (ap-
parently some years before Watts first printed his hymns),
published A Collection of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual
Songs, fitted for morning and eirning zvorship in a private
family, but containing also sacramental hymns. He pre-
fixed a long list of his sources, including among others
Barton, Baxter, Boyse, Crashaw, Dorrington, Burgess,
Herbert, Patrick, Mason and Shepherd, Tate and Brady,
and Woodford. His work stands in the shadow of his
great contemporary and looms small there; but in view of
the fact that Bury's book reached a third edition in 1713
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 89
and a fourth in 1724, it could not have been without influ-
ence upon the situation.-^
As pointing apparently in the same direction, mention
may be made of a movement to better congregational sing-
ing in the last years of the older London Presbyterianism.
Moved by the unsatisfactory conditions of public worship
and especially of the neglect and unskillful performance
of Psalmody in Nonconformist churches, a Society of gen-
tlemen in the (then) Presbyterian Meeting at the King's
Weigh House in Little Eastcheap employed a teacher of
Psalmody and established a course of Friday lectures. The
Psalmody Lectures were published by them in 1 708 as Prac-
tical Discourses of Singing in the worsliip of God: preach' d
at the Friday Lecture in Eastcheap. By seirral Ministers.
Of the six lecturers all but one were Presbyterian min-
isters.^^
This movement was not primarily to encourage the intro-
duction of hymn singing, but it tended strongly that way.
The opening lecturer declared : "I conceive that whatever
Songs are Scriptural, are the proper Object of Singing. . . .
For I can by no means be of their mind, who in the public
Congregations would confine us to that collection of the
Jewish Psalmody, which is call'd the Psalms of David. "^^
The fourth lecturer approves Mr. Stennett's hymns as
^^The fullest notice of Bury's book is in J. Conder, The Poet of the
Sanctuary, London, 1851, p. 35. For Bury himself, see The Diet, of
Nat. Biography, and the references there, especially Murch's Hist, of
Presb. and Genl. Bapt. Churches in W. of England, 1835, pp. 107 ff.
The date of Bury's book is unknown to the writer. It seems to be
referred to in the advt. at end of Henry's Family Hymns, 1702.
"*They were Jabez Earle, William Harris, Thomas Reynolds, John
Newman and Benjamin Gravener. That the sixth, Thomas Bradbury,
was Independent, aided perhaps to broaden the reach of the movement.
He was a singular selection. He knew nothing of music, was without
poetical taste, became the great opponent of Dr. Watts' scheme for
improving Psalmody, refused to allow Watts' Psalms or Hymns to be
sung in his presence, and used Patrick's version to the end of his life.
Cf. W. Wilson, History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches . . .
in London, London, 1808-14, vol. iii, pp. 527, 528,
"•Mr. Earle : p. 4.
90 THE ENGLISH HYMN
"those excellent Composures wherewith" he "hath oblig'd
the Christian Church. "^^ The fifth lecturer commends Mr.
Watts' views of a New Testament Hymnody in the essay
prefixed to the Hymns of 1707, which he has "seen since
the Composure of this Discourse."^^ The last lecture is a
review of the part played by psalm singing since the Refor-
mation, and the frequent quotations from Tate and Brady
suggest that the lecturer^* was content to sing their New
Version of the Psalter.
This interesting movement^^ began before the publica-
tion of Watts' Hymns, and was inspired by the same distress
at the conditions of Nonconformist Psalmody. Originally
independent of him, it came to accept his leadership. W.
Lawrence, the teacher of Psalmody at the Weigh House,
had made a Ms. collection of tunes for "The Gentlemen of
the Society" supporting the Friday Lecture. Upon the
appearance of Watts' The Psalms of David imitated, the
collection was at once adapted to it, and published the same
year as A Collection of Tunes suited to the various metres
in Mr. Watts's Imitation of the Psalms of David or Dr.
Patrick's Version, fit to he hound up with either (London,
by W. Pearson for John Clark, lyK)).^"^ The Gentlemen of
the Friday Lecture continued their good work for congre-
gational singing many years. But Lawrence's book has
already brought us to the period at which Dr. Watts' Psalms
and Hymns began to dominate the worship of the old Pres-
byterian Meetings.
^"Mr. Reynolds: p. 103.
-'Mr. Newman: p. 154.
^^Mr. Gravener.
*'J. S. Curwen in his Studies in Worship Music, 1st Series, London,
n. d., p. 88, credits it to the "Independents."
^"Cf. Hymns ancient and modern: Historical edition, London, 1909,
pp. Ixxxv, Ixxxvi. Lawrence's successor, Nathaniel Gawthorn, pub-
lished Harmonia Perfecta, a complete Collection of Psalm Tunes in
four parts (London, 1730), chiefly ti-ansposed from Ravenscroft, and
dedicated "To the Gentlemen who support the Friday Lecture in
Eastcheap; and for a course of years have encouraged Psalmody."
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 91
IV
THE ATTITUDE OF THE SEPARATISTS
We now turn to consider the situation in those rehgious
bodies which had already formed dissenting communities
outside the walls of the Church of England, and entered
upon the Restoration period with traditions already ac-
quired. There were marked divergences in their attitude
not only toward psalm singing but toward Congregational
Praise itself as a Christian ordinance. Two of these bodies,
the Arminian Baptists and the Society of Friends, on the
one hand, had taken up an attitude of actual hostility toward
singing in public worship. The other two, the Calvinistic
Baptists and the Independents, had struggled against the
spread of the same hostility within their ranks, and during
the period now under review emerged from the struggle to
become jointly instrumental in introducing the English
Hymn into actual liturgical use.
At the left we may group together the General or Ar-
minian Baptists and the Society of Friends, as sharing the
opinion that singing by the congregation should have no
place in the public worship of God.
I. The General Baptists Oppose "Promiscuous
Singing"
To explain the origins of the great "Controversie of Sing-
ing," and the attitude of the General Baptists in England
toward Congregational Song, we must go back to about
the year 1606,^^ when John Smyth, pastor of a congregation
of Separatists at Gainsborough, led his people in a flight to
Amsterdam. Once there he found that his real sympathies
were not with the principles and practices of the congre-
gation of English exiles already on the ground, but rather
with the Dutch Mennonites. He developed intense antipathy
to infant baptism, and, failing to secure believers' baptism
"Henry AI. Dexter, The true Story of John Smyth, Boston, 1881,
p. 2.
92 THE ENGLISH HYMN
at the hands of the Mennonites, in 1608 baptized himself,
thus becoming "the Se-Baptist of Church history."^^ He
formed a separate congregation with anti-Calvinistic princi-
ples, adopting not only the theology of the Mennonites,
but many of those peculiar practices of their worship that
anticipated the Quaker meeting.
In setting forth The Differences of the Churches of the
Separation (n. pi., 1608), Smyth held that the New Cove-
nant is spiritual, proceeding out of the heart, and that read-
ing out of a book is no part of spiritual worship, but an
invention of the man of sin. "We hold, that seeing sing-
ing a psalm is a part of spiritual worship, it is unlawful to
have the book before the eye in time of singing a psalm. "^^
These principles reduce the possibility of singing in wor-
ship to the instance of an individual feeling impelled to
compose and utter a spontaneous song. And Robert Baillie
testifies that such was the practice in Smyth's congrega-
tion.^^
After the formation of the denomination of General
Baptists in England as the result of the labors of Smyth
and his disciples, Thomas Grantham, as their mouthpiece,
published his Christianisnius Primitivus (London 1678).
•^In this he held that the New Testament recognizes no
promiscuous singing, and no singing by the rules of art,
but only the utterance of psalms and hymns sung by such
as God hath fitted thereto by the help of His Spirit for
the edification of the listening church. If all sing, there
were none to be edified^ if pleasant tunes are used, that
would bring music and instruments back; if other men's
words are sung, that would open the way to the similar use
of forms of prayer also.
"*" At a General Baptist Assembly in 1689 it appeared that
'"Ed. Arber, Story of the Pilgrim Fathers, London, 1897, p. 137.
'■'Quoted from the copy in Bodleian Library by R. Barclay, The
Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the C ommonzvealth, 2nd ed.,
London, 1877, p. 106.
^^A Dissvasive from the errours of the times, London, 1645.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 93
a small minority of congregations had begun "promiscuous"
singing of psalms. The Assembly called upon them to show
"what psalms they made use of for the matter, and what
rules they did settle upon for the manner." In response
there was produced
"Not the metres composed by Messrs. Sternhold and Hopkins, but
a book of metres composed by one Mr. Barton, and the rules pro-
duced to sing these Psalms as set down secundum artcm; viz., as the
musicians do sing according to their gamut, — Sol, fa, la, my, ray, &c.,
&c. ; which appeared so strangely foreign to the evangelical worship
that it was not conceived anywise safe for the churches to admit such
carnal formalities; but to rest satisfied in this, till we can see some-
thing more perfect in this case, that as prayer of one in the church is
the prayer of the whole, as a church, so the 'singing of one in the
church is the singing of the whole church ; and as he that prayeth in
the church is to perform the service as of the ability which God
giveth, even so, he that singeth praises in the church ought to per-
form that service as of the ability received of God; that as a mourn-
ful voice becomes the duty of prayer, so a joyful voice, with gravity,
becomes the duty of praising God with a song in the Church of God." ^^
This judgment, received with "the general approbation
of the Assembly," is interesting not only as showing that
the great majority had not advanced a step beyond the po-
sition of Grantham in 1671, but also for the circumstances
that occasioned it, as showing the movement of the time
beginning to penetrate the isolation of a peculiar sect. It
seems to have got no farther within General Baptist circles
during the period under review. There is apparently no
record of a change of practice until well toward the middle
of the XVIIIth century. In 1733 the General Assembl}^
received a complaint from Northamptonshire that some of
its churches "had fallen into the way of singing the Psalms
of David, or other men's composures, with tunable notes,
and a mixed multitude ; which way of singing appears to us
wholly unwarrantable from the Word of God." But the
mood or judgment of the Assembly had at length changed.
It admitted that congregational singing was an innovation,
practised by "some very few," yet was not a sufficient
''^J. J. Goadby, Bye-Paths in Baptist History, London, n. d., pp. 347,
348.
94 THE ENGLISH HYMN
ground for excluding them. The Assembly could find no
clear statement in Scripture as to the manner of singing.
It would that all were of one mind, "but as the weakness of
human understanding is such that things appear in different
lights to different persons, such a concord is rather to be
desired than expected in this world. It expressed on the
whole an unwillingness to dispute the question or to impose
upon all the general opinion and practice.^''
It may be inferred that the influence of Dr. Watts had
begun to be felt by General Baptists, but their actual asso-
ciations were closer with the later Wesleyan movement.
And it was by means of the fervid influences of the Meth-
odist Revival that General Baptist churches were to be
multiplied and to become hymn singing churches.
^ 2. The Society of Friends Excludes "Conjoint
Singing"
The Society of Friends took up a position that opposed
singing as practised in the public worship of the time and
led to the exclusion of all song from their own meetings.
Whether, with Hodgkin,^' we regard George Fox as an
original thinker, or conclude with R. Barclay^^ that his
tenets and practices were to a large extent borrowed from
the Mennonites and Arminian Baptists, there can be no
doubt of the wide area of opinion and practice held by them
in common. There is no appreciable difference between the
General Baptist and the Quaker position as regards Church
Song. It is to be remembered also that Fox's movement
was, like that of the General Baptists, an immediate revolt
not from Laudian Episcopacy but from Puritan theology
and practice. While he "was to bring people off from all
the world's religions, which are vain, . . . and prayings,
and singings, which stood in forms without power,"^^ and
^'Goadby, op. cit., p. 348.
"Thomas Hodgkin, George Fox, London, 1896, p. vi.
^Op. cit., chap. V.
^°Quoted in Hodgkin's George Fox, p. 35.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 95
while he held up mass book and common prayer and direc-
tory to unpartitioned scorn, it was the Directory which
immediately confronted him, and the Puritan Psalmody
which constituted the "singings" audible by him.
The early Friends were not opposed to all singing in
public worship. Among several references thereto in Fox's
Journal is one of 1655 to the effect that "Tho : Holme &
Eliz : Holme : att a meetinge in Underbarrow : were much
exercised by y*" power of y** Lorde in songes and Hymms
& made melody & rejoyced: & y** life was raised thereby &
refreshed in many : in y* meetinge.""''^ Three years later
Fox wrote : "Those who are moved to sing with under-
standing, making melody to the Lord in their hearts we
own ; if it be in meeter, we own it."'*^ By an official pro-
nouncement of the Yearly Meeting of 1675 "Serious sigh-
ing, sencible groaning and reverent singing" are recognized
as divers operations of the Spirit and power of God, and
not to be quenched or discouraged, unless immoderate.'*^
This evidently refers to the utterance of an individual, under
the direct motion of the Spirit. As formulated by Barclay
in his Apology*^ (nth proposition, §26) the singing of
psalms is a true part of God's worship, but the formal cus-
tomary way of singing in the congregation has no Scriptural
nor even Christian ground. To put expressions of the reli-
gious experiences of blessed David into the mouths of the
wicked and profane is to make them utter great and horrid
lies in the sight of God. Acceptable singing must proceed
from the Spirit indwelling in the heart. Artificial music,
of organs or vocal, has no New Testament warrant.
*''Thc Journal of George Fox, ed. from the Mss. by Norman
Penney, Cambridge, at the University Press, 191 1, vol. ii, p. 326. All
the references to singing in worship seem to have been left unprinted
until this edition appeared (see vol. i. p. 442) ; a fact not witliout
suggestiveness.
*'G. Fox and Huggerthorne, Truth's Defence against the refined
subtility of the Serpent, 1658, p. 21.
"See R. Barclay, op. cit., p. 461.
""Printed in the year 1678" (n. p.) ; pp. 288, 289.
96 THE ENGLISH HYMN
The singing thus recognized has been compared to that
of the singing evangeHst introduced in the Moody and
Sankey campaigns/"' but seems more akin to the inspira-
tional utterances of the early Christian assemblies. Such
as it was, it was strongly opposed by some from the first,"*'"'
and soon died out. "Conjoint" singing of psalms or hymns
taken from a book or the lips of a precentor, was never
at any time tolerated in the Friends' meetings. It ranged
in Fox's mind with images and crosses, prescribed prayers
and sprinkling of infants, as one of the vain traditions and
worldly ceremonials from which it was his peculiar mission
to deliver men. So far as the actual practice of the meetings
is concerned, the result would have been the same in any
case, as the repudiation of the musical art by the early
Friends must soon have made congregational song quite
impracticable.
With this attitude of opposition to the established Psalm-
ody, the Friends, of course, have had no part in its transi-
tion to our modern hymn singing. Members of that body
have not hesitated to contribute hymns to the common stock,
but only in the last half century or so has a movement begun
in England and America to introduce general hymn singing
(even the hymnal with musical notes) into the Quaker
meeting.
3. Benjamin Keach Introduces Hymns among the
Particular Baptists
Among the Particular (or Calvinistic) Baptists there
was, to say the least, nothing like unanimity in agreeing
with their Arminian brethren concerning Congregational
Song.
The very full records of the Broadmead Church of
Bristol left by Edward Terrill are silent on this point from
1640 to 1670. But from 1671 to 1685 they show that
congregational singing was statedly practised, under all the
*'R. Barclay, pp. 461, 462.
■"R. Barclay, p. 462; Fox's Journal, vol. i. p. 442.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 97
menaces of persecution.'*'^ There was, however, a second
Baptist congregation in Bristol; and, when in 1675, a joint
meeting was proposed, some of its members "were ready
to sing Psalms with others beside the church," but a minority
"Scrupled to sing in metre as [the Psalms] were trans-
lated," and asked permission to keep their hats on or to
retire while this was doing.'*^ From this and other facts
we may infer that there were considerable differences of
sentiment and practice among the Particular Baptists.
It was in one of the congregations which had declined
to sing that the use of hymns as distinct from psalms be-
gan.**^ The innovator was its pastor, Benjamin Keach, a
young man who had originally shared the sentiments of
the General Baptists, among whom he was reared.*^ In
1668 he became pastor of a congregation of Particular
Baptists of Southwark, which prospered under him and built
a meeting house on Horsley-down.
Keach was convinced that Congregational Song was an
ordinance of Christ, and undertook to realize his convic-
tions among his own people. He first obtained their consent
to sing at the close of the Lord's Supper. In the Epistle
Dedicatory to his Breach repaired, dated April 3, 1691, he
fixes the date as "16 or 18 years" earlier, which gives from
1673 to 1675. After some six years of this practice, his
church agreed to sing also on "public Thanksgiving days" ;
and about 1690 they agreed to sing the praises of God every
Lord's day.^°
The songs thus introduced were not metrical psalms, but
hymns suitable to the occasion, in manuscript and mostly or
altogether composed by Keach himself.
"r/i(? Records of the Church of Christ meeting in Broadmead,
Bristol, 1640- 1687, London, 1847, pp. 159, 222, 228, 230, 232, 233, 236,
237, 238, 248, 253, 256, 291, 305, 312, 339, 421, 443, 465-
*'Broadmead Records, p. 242.
**Thos. Crosby, History of the English Baptists, London, 1838-40,
vol. iv. p. 299.
"Crosby, op. cit., vol. iv. p. 270.
"p. viii.
98 THE ENGLISH HYMN
A very small minority of Reach's congregation had op-
posed the movement, and this more frequent use of hymns
precipitated a bitter controversy; the dissenters being led
by Isaac Marlow, who in 1690 printed A brief Discourse
concerning Singing in the publick worship of God in the
Gospel Church (London, printed for the Author). Her-
cules Collins in the appendix to his Orthodox Christian,
published in 1680, had urged the duty of congregational
singing, as had Keach himself in his Tropes and Figures
(1682) and Treatise on Baptism (1689). John Bunyan
also in his Solomon's Temple spiritualized (1688), speaks
of it as a divine institution in the public worship of the
church, to whose members it should be confined. At the
First General Assembly of Particular Baptists in 1689
Keach challenged that body to debate the matter. The
debate seems to have been entered upon but not concluded,
the Assembly thinking "it not convenient to spend much
time that way."^^
The controversy thus opened continued for several years.
Keach responded to Marlow in his The Breach repaired in
God's Worship or, singing of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual
Songs, proved to he an holy ordinance of Jesus Christ
(London 1691), a treatise of 192 pages with an appendix
against Marlow covering 50 more. Marlow replied in The
Truth soberly defended (1692) ; and other writers on both
sides entered the fray. The points actually at issue were
afterwards^ ^ stated by Marlow as three: (i) Whether the
only vocal singing in the Apostolic Church was not the
exercise of an extraordinary gift of the Spirit. (2)
Whether the use of a set form of words in artificial rhymes
is allowable. (3) Whether the minister sang alone, or a
promiscuous assembly together, sanctified and profane, men
and women (even though the latter were enjoined to keep
silence in the churches).
By 1692 the controversy had become so heated and
"'Goadby, op. cit., p. 332.
"In his Controversie brought to an end, 1696.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 99
abusive that the General Assembly took it in hand, and
appointed a committee of seven to examine the pamphlets.
Upon their report the Assembly rebuked the pamphleteers,
and urged the people neither "to buy, sell, give or disperse"
certain pamphlets, including Marlow's Truth soberly de-
fended.
Crosby's statement that "a stop was thus put to the
troubles that threatened the baptized churches upon this
controversy"'''*"" is clearly unjustified. Marlow and his fol-
lowers set up an independent congregation without singing ;
and in 1696 he published his Controversie of Singing
brought to an end, and which in fact served only to renew
it. The General Assembly had decided nothing except that
the peace should be kept, but in omitting to decide against
singing they left the churches free. And Crosby is no doubt
right in saying that "many of them from that time sung
the praises of God in their public assembhes who had not
used that practice before. "^^
The deeper issues raised in this "controversie of Sing-
ing" tended to relegate the question between psalms and
hymns to a position of inferior interest and importance.
Many Baptist congregations introducing singing confined
themselves to psalms without question. It was so generally
at Broadmead, but the records show the singing of a hymn
as early as 1678, written and handed up by Edward Ter-
rill.^^ A late comer into the controversy, the famous John
Gill, in his Discourse on Singing of Psalms, 1734 (2nd Ed.
175 1 ), denies not that hymns may be useful, but care must
be taken to conform them to Scripture and the analogy of
faith ; and on the whole he judges them "in a good measure,
unnecessary. "^°
But the foundations of hymn singing in Particular Bap-
''^History of the Baptists, vol. iii. p. 270. Cf. Joseph Ivimey, History
of the English Baptists, London, 1811-1814, vol. ii. pp. 374, 375.
"Crosby, vol. iii. p. 271.
^""Records, pp. 389, 390.
"'2nd ed., p. 45.
loo THE ENGLISH HYMN
tist churches had been permanently laid by Keach, and a
beginning of Baptist Hymnody made.
Keach printed some of his hymns as early as 1676 in
his War witJi the pozvers of darkness (4th Ed.), and three
hundred of them as Spiritual Melody in 1691. The Sacra-
mental Hymns which Joseph Boyse printed at Dublin in
1693 has sometimes been regarded as the first Baptist hymn
book. But the immersionist type of the baptismal hymn
contained in that book will not serve to detach Boyse from
his dearly beloved and heroically defended Presbytery.
The Lord's Supper furnished a natural occasion for the
introduction of evangelical hymns. And Joseph Stennett,
who in 1690 became pastor of a Seventh-Day Baptist
Church in Devonshire Square, London, began to use there
sacramental hymns of his own composition. They circu-
lated without, through Ms. copies made "by some Persons
who heard them dictated ["lined"] in Publick." ^^ Other
congregations expressed a desire to use the hymns, and in
1697 Stennett published them as Hymns in commemoration
of the Sufferings of our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ,
composed for the celebration of his Holy Supper. They
reached a second edition in 1705, and a third in 1709. He
published also in 17 12 a tractate of twelve Hymns compos' d
for the celebration of the holy ordinance of Baptism, of
which there was a second edition in 1722. Stennett had
been in contact with the "controversie of Singing," and as a
preface to his earlier book printed a justification of con-
gregational singing from the hand of one who had been
trained in opposition to it, but had changed his views. Sten-
nett's hymns were admired and used beyond the bounds
of the Baptist denomination; some indeed have continued in
use to our own day.^^ How they affected the Eastcheap
lecturer has already appeared. It is of more moment that
they attracted the attention of young Isaac Watts, under
■^'"Advertisement" in the Hymns . . . for the . . . Holy Supper.
""That most widely familiar, "Another six days' work is done," ap-
peared in neither of the above publications.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS loi
whose influence Baptist Hymnody was about to pass. His
appropriation of several of Stennett's lines into his own
work entitles Stennett to be regarded as one of the models
from whom Watts worked out his own conception of the
English Hymn.
4. The Independents Join with the Presbyterians in
Introducing Hymns
There is no reason to doubt that the early Independents
as a class were in substantial accord with the general Puri-
tan position as to the singing of psalms. Such certainly
was the case with the church of the exiled Separatists at
Amsterdam. When John Smyth of Gainsborough devel-
oped there his peculiar views of spiritual worship, they
found little sympathy. Ainsworth in his Defence of the
Holy Scriptures, zvorsJiip and ministcrie used in the CJtris-
tian churches separated from Antichrist : against the chal-
lenges, cavils and contradiction of Mr. Smyth, in 1609,
professes himself unable to understand why Smyth should
not use psalm singing in the services of his church, and he
speaks for the whole body of the earlier exiles in saying,
we "do content ourselves with joint harmonious singing of
the Psalms of Holy Scripture, to the instruction and com-
forts of our hearts, and praise of our God."^^ In 1612
Ainsworth prepared a complete metrical Psalter for the use
of the exiles, accompanying it with tunes and also with a
prose rendering for comparison and with annotations for
critical study. Some of these versions in Ms. may have
been already in use; the printed Psalter was used both in
the Amsterdam church and in Robinson's at Leyden, and
was by the Pilgrim Fathers out of the Leyden congrega-
tion taken to New England.
It cannot, however, be said that when Smyth and his
followers formed themselves into a Baptist congregation,
they left behind them no elements of controversy as to the
^'Defence, quoted in B. Hanbury, Hist. Memorials relating to the
Independents, London, 1839, vol. i. p. 181.
102 THE ENGLISH HYMN
propriety of congregational psalm singing. The extreme
spirit of individualism developed, and the Puritan ingenuity
in raising "cases of conscience" led to much difference of
opinion among the Independents on this as on other ques-
tions. The hesitation of the Westminster Assembly in deal-
ing with the subject was doubtless with a view to including
the largest possible Independent support. The prevalent
opinion among them perhaps asked no more than that the
subject be left free, especially as regards the choice of a
specific version. But there were troublesome minorities
that objected to congregational singing per se, or like that
represented by Mr. Nye,^*^ who took Barrowe's earlier posi-
tion of protest against translating the Psalms into English
metre,^^ though it is not clear how they proposed to make
the singing of a prose version practicable. Some of these
controversialists were especially active at the time. John
Cotton essayed to cover the whole ground of controversy
in his Singing of Psalms a Gospel-ordinance, printed at
London in 1647, and again in 1650. No doubt he includes
Old England and New, Baptist and Independent, describ-
ing his view of the general situation, in his opening sen-
tence : "To prevent the godly-minded from making melody
to the Lord in Singing his Praises with one accord, . . .
Satan hath mightily bestirred himself to breed a discord in
the hearts of some by filling their heads with foure heads of
scruples about the Duty." These scruples related to singing
with the voice as against singing in the heart; as to who
may properly be allowed to join in it in public worship
(women, carnal men, &c.) ; as to the subject matter of
praise; and as to metrical versions and invented tunes.
Cotton's defence adds nothing, and was not intended to
add anything, to the general doctrine of Psalmody held by
the Reformed Churches, which it essays to vindicate on the
usual Scriptural grounds.
'^Letters and Journals of Robert Baillic, Edinburgh, 1841, 1842, vol.
ii. p. 121.
"See Hanbury, Memorials, vol. i. p. 61.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 103
The "controversie of Singing" had spent its force before
the period of the Restoration, and seems to have ended
in a general adoption of psalm singing in Independent con-
gregations. Several churches are on record in the preceding
years as resolving to maintain or take up the "Singing of
Psalms. "*^^ And in June, 1663, Dr. Goodwin and Mr.
Nye, as well as Mr. Caryl, in their interview with Charles II,
were able to report that "we have in our churches all parts
of worship, as preaching, praying, reading, and singing of
psalms, and the sacraments. "^^ None the less the con-
troversy had produced the familiar effect of stripping from
the controverted practice its earlier delight. A conviction
of duty is, after all, an inadequate basis for song.
And then, too, the Independents felt the full stress of the
persecutions that followed the Act of Uniformity. The
Conventicle Act bore hardly upon established congregations
with well known places of meeting, to whom the houses of
great Puritan families, which often provided shelter and
even places for worship to the Presbyterians, were not open.
During the enforcement of these Acts, their services could
be held only in secluded places and at unexpected hours, with
a guard at the door to give notice of interruption. It is
obvious that with the need of avoiding observation by
neighbors and passers by, singing would be the first "part
of worship" to suffer. Speaking of one of the periods of
persecution, Neale says that in the meetings "they never
sung Psalms." ^^ Equally suggestive is a record under date
of April I, 1682, of a church once meeting at St. Thomas',
Southwark : "We met at Mr. Russell's, in Ironmonger Lane,
where Mr. Lambert, of Deadman's Place, Southwark, ad-
ministered to us the ordinance of the Lord's supper, and
we sang a psalm in a low voice. "^^
"C/. Curwen, Studies in Worship Music, ist Series, pp. 83, 84.
•"Letter of Wm. Hooke, quoted in J. Waddington, Congregational
History, 1567-1700, London, 1874, p. 579.
**History of the Puritans, part v. chap. ii. : ed. 1837, vol. iii. p. 265.
"'Quoted in Worship Music, p. 84.
I04 THE ENGLISH HYMN
These conditions of restraint ceased with the Revolution
of 1688, which brought freedom of worship and a begin-
ning of a meeting house building era to Independents as to
Presbyterians. The lengthy sermon and protracted extem-
poraneous prayer were the main features of worship in the
Independent meeting houses. They left little opportunity
for psalm singing, and there is no evidence that the new
conditions put new heart into it. The singing was still
confined to canonical Psalms. While Sternhold and Hop-
kins had been largely given up, no other version was received
in common. Some who craved a "pure" version favored
Barton's, and others the Bay Psalm Book of the New Eng-
land divines. Nathaniel Homes, afterwards one of the
ejected ministers, had called attention to it as early as 1644
in his Gospel Mustek, reprinting its preface with approval.
Three English editions had already appeared and more were
to follow, though not necessarily for exclusively English
use. Among those who turned toward a modified Psalter
Patrick's version became the favorite.
The singing of hymns in Independent meeting-houses
began in the last quarter of the XVIIth century,*^*^ intro-
duced there as elsewhere by divines who had become restless
under the limitations of an Old Testament Psalmody, With
the right of each congregation to regulate its own worship
and the prevalence of the practice of lining out the words,
the use of hymns in manuscript required merely the agree-
ment of pastor and people. With the fraternization of
Independents and Presbyterians, and the frequent occupancy
of Independent pulpits by Presbyterian divines, it would be
difficult to distinguish a separate origin of hymn singing in
either body. It would be still more difficult to show that the
impulse came from the Independent side.
"''To the 3rd book of R. Davis' Hymns, hereafter referred to, was
added a group of hymns with the note : "The following Hymns were
found in Mr. Browning's Study, and used by him at the Lord's Table."
Browning was Davis' predecessor as pastor at Rothwell, and according
to Glass (Early Hist, of Independent Church at Rothwell, n. d.) his
pastorate ended in 1685.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 105
During the last decade of the century hymn singing
reached the stage that called for printed hymn books. The
Family Hymns of Matthew Henry, has been already re-
ferred to as published in 1695, though the New Testament
hymns were not added till the second edition of 1702. The
publisher's advertisement at the end of the 1702 issue shows
quite an array of hymn books available at that date, and
gives a clue as to what had been and was then in use. There
are Mason's Spiritual Songs in its seventh edition, with the
Penitential Cries of Shepherd, in its fifth edition : the Pres-
byterian Boyse's Sacramental Hymns: A Collection of
Divine Hymns, upon several occasions, suited to our com-
mon tunes, for the use of devout Christians, in singing the
praises of God, published in 1694, and gathered from six
authors, including Baxter and Mason : Select Hymns, taken
out of Mr. Herberts Temple: Bury's A Collection of Psalms,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, fitted for morning and evening
worship in a private family: Baxter's Poetical Fragments
in its third edition : and Barton's Six Centuries of select
Hymns and Spiritual Songs in its fourth edition.
This list is substantially a catalogue of the earliest hymn-
books of the Independents, as also of the Presbyterians.
Simon Browne, in the preface to his Hymns and Spiritual
Songs, London, 1720, mentioning the books of Barton,
Mason and Shepherd, adds : "Beside some collections from
private hands, and an attempt to turn some of Mr. Herbert's
poems into common metre, these I have mention'd were all
the hymns I know to have been in common use, either in
private families, or Christian-assemblies, till within a few
years past." ^^
To these must be added Stennett's two little books of
sacramental hymns, and also a volume of 168 Hymns com-
posed on several subjects and on divers occasions (date
unknown) by Richard Davis, the Independent minister of
Rothwell, to which some hymns by others were added in a
second edition in 1694. These warm but artless hymns,
'^p. 16 of preface.
io6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
possibly not known to Browne, were acceptable in Davis's
Rothwell congregation and in his evangelistic work through
the midland counties, and went further.^^ They were com-
mended by John Gill,^^ and were reprinted in London as
late as 1833.'^''
These books make it evident enough that there was a
beginning of Independent hymn singing before Watts. We
have indeed his own testimony that some ministers had
already commenced to use "evangelical hymns. "^^ But such
use was exceptional ; the books marking the tentative efforts
of progressive individuals rather than the general practice.
In the great body of the meeting houses the singing of
psalms obtained exclusively, though not perhaps very jeal-
ously. And this occasioned the remark of Enoch Watts,
that "a load of scandal" lay on the Independents "for their
imagined aversion to poetry." ^^
In view of the new leaven about to be introduced into
this situation, and of the fact that from among the Inde-
pendents was to arise the principal agent of the effective
transition from the old Psalmody to the new Hymnody, it is
interesting to get as vivid a view as may be of the actual
practice of psalm singing by the Independents at the be-
ginning of the XVIIIth century, which constitutes the back-
ground against which the work of Dr. Watts is to be set.
There is no difficulty in reconstructing its salient features.
The congregational leadership was in the hands of a pre-
centor, generally of most meagre attainments. The singing
was still dominated by the universal practice of lining out
the psalm. Very few tunes were used, and in rendering
''This early book of Davis was distinctively from the Independent
side. He and all his works were repudiated by the Presbyterian mem-
bers of the London "Meeting of Ministers" and by Presbyterians gen-
erally. Cf. R. W. Dale, History of English Congregationalism, Lon-
don, 1907, pp. 479 ff.
""See preface to 7th edition, 1748.
'M brief List of Hymn Books for sale by Charles Higham, Lon-
don, 1893.
'^'Essay prefixed to ist edition of his Hymns, 1707.
"His letter in Th. Milner, Life of Isaac Watts, London, 1834, p. 178.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 107
these all the notes were reduced to "a constant uniformity
of time." Each note was dwelt upon so long as "puts the
Congregation quite out of breath in singing five 01 six
stanzas. "'^^ Musical ignorance and incapacity accompanied
by indifference seems to have been very general, but the
Psalmody as practised hardly related itself to music. The
people carried no psalm books to church, had neither text
nor note before them, and must often have failed to catch
or comprehend the line as the precentor gave it out. In-
strumental music was excluded by common consent.''^* Many
of the people took no part in the psalmody; most of these
failing through apathy, but some consciences even at that
date had not come through the "controversie of Singing,"
and refrained for cause.''^
The apathy of the people doubtless extended to many of
their leaders, who as a class were no longer of the educated
type of the pastors furnished by the Ejectment. To some
extent the people's apathy was even a reflection of the
exclusive interest of the average Independent minister of
the period in the sermon and prayer. Dr. Watts' own im-
pressions of the Independent psalmody as set against his
ideals of the ordinance of Congregational Song are re-
corded as follows in the preface to his Hymns of 1707:
"While we sing the Praises of our God in his Church, we are em-
ploy'd in that part of Worship which of all others is the nearest a-kin
to Heaven ; and 'tis pity that this of all others should be perform'd
the worst upon Earth. . . . To see the dull Indifference, the negligent
and the thoughtless Air that sits upon the Faces of a whole Assembly
while the Psalm is on their Lips, might tempt even a charitable Ob-
server, to suspect the Fervency of inward Religion, and 'tis much to
be fear'd that the Minds of most of the Worshippers are absent
or unconcern'd. . . . But of all our Religious Solemnities Psalmodie
is the most unhappily manag'd. That very Action which should elevate
us to the most delightful and divine Sensations doth not only flat our
Devotion, but too often awakens our Regret, and touches all the
Springs of Uneasiness within us."
'^Watts, preface to The Psalms of David imitated, 1719.
^^Practical Discourses of Singing (already cited), pp. 137, 191.
^^Ibid., Sermon iv.
CHAPTER III
DR. WATTS' "RENOVATION OF PSALMODY"
HIS PROPOSAL OF AN EVANGELICAL "SYSTEM
OF PRAISE" (1707)
With the work of Isaac Watts (1674-1748) a new epoch
began in EngHsh Church Song. Behind it was a great
personaHty, clear of vision, fertile of resource, dominant in
leadership. And no small part of his equipment was his
youth fulness.^ He planned and began his work in the
ardor of youth, its singleness of conviction, its preference
of radical remedies over compromise, its comparative dis-
regard of other people's feelings.
There is no better way of approach to Watts' work than
that of comparison with the contemporaneous Eastcheap
movement toward bettering Nonconformist Psalmody.^
Both dealt with the same conditions, and sought to under-
mine the indifference that had produced them. But they
differed both in diagnosis and in the remedy proposed.
The Eastcheap lecturers put the emphasis on "The Duty
of Singing in the Worship of God." ^ The failure to com-
prehend this duty had brought about the current neglect and
' "Many of Dr. Watts's hymns were not, it is understood, written
by Dr. Watts at all, but by young Mr. Watts; not by that venerable
man with venerable wig, who figures opposite so many a title-page,
but by a yovmg immature Christian, who afterwards became this ven-
erable and truly admirable person." Thomas Toke Lynch, in Memoir
of him, ed. by Wm. White, London, 1874, p. 95.
"See the account of it in chapter ii, part iii.
"Practical Discourses of Singing in the Worship of God, London,
1708, preface, p. iii.
108
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 109
unskillful performance of Psalmody. As to what should be
sung they were not agreed. Three favored, or took for
granted, the singing of psalms; three favored supplement-
ing psalms with New Testament songs; the other simply
recounted the triumphs of psalm singing in the past. But
Watts attributed the great part of current indifference to the
use of psalms, and exposed the foundations on which Church
Song had been laid at the Calvinistic Reformation as in-
adequate to support a Christian ordinance of Praise :
"I have been long convinc'd, that one great Occasion of this Evil
arises from the Matter and Words to which we confine all our Songs.
Some of 'em are almost opposite to the Spirit of the Gospel : Many
of them foreign to the State of the New-Testament, and widely dif-
ferent from the present Circumstances of Christians. Hence it comes
to pass that when spiritual Affections are excited within us, and our
Souls are raised a little above this Earth in the beginning of a Psalm,
we are check'd on a sudden in our Ascent toward Heaven by some
Expressions that are more suited to the Days of Carnal Ordinances,
and fit only to be sung in the Worldly Sanctuary. When we are just
entring into an Evangelic Frame by some of the Glories of the
Gospel presented in the brightest Figures of Judaism, yet the very
next Line perhaps which the Clerk parcels out unto us, hath some-
thing in it so extremely Jezvish and cloudy, that darkens our Sight of
God the Saviour : Thus by keeping too close to David in the House
of God, the Vail of Moses is thrown over our Hearts. While we
are kindling into divine Love by the Meditations of the loving
kindness of God and the Multitude of his tender Mercies, within
a few Verses some dreadful Curse against Men is propos'd to our
Lips. . . . Some Sentences of the Psalmist that are expressive of
the Temper of our own Hearts and the Circumstances of our Lives
may Compose our Spirits to Seriousness, and allure us to a sweet
Retirement within our selves ; but we meet with a following Line which
so peculiarly belongs but to one Action or Hour of the Life of David
or Asaph, that breaks off our Song in the midst; our Consciences are
affrighted lest we should speak a Falsehood unto God." *
If Watts had been alone in these views, probably he
would have failed. He goes on to say that
"Many Ministers and many private Christians have long groan'd
under this Inconvenience, and have wish'd rather than attempted a
Reformation: At their importunate and repeated Requests I have for ^
some Years past devoted many Hours of leisure to this Service." °
^Preface to Hymns, 1707, pp. iv-vi.
^Ibid., p. vi.
no THE ENGLISH HYMN
In the way of remedying the low state of Psahnody it is
not clear that the Eastcheap lecturers had anything in mind
beyond quickening the sense of duty to sing, and attention
to musical instruction such as the Society of Gentlemen
furnished at the King's Weigh House. Watts, on the
other hand, believing that the cause of trouble lay in the
matter and words commonly sung, proposed a renovation
^.of Psalmody itself. '' He set up a new standard of Church
Song, having these criteria :
•* First, it should be evangelical: not in the sense that New
Testament songs be allowed to "supplement" Old Testament
Psalms, but so that the whole body of Church Song be
brought within the light of the gospel.
« Second, it should be freely composed, as against the
Reformation standard of strict adherence to the letter of
Scripture or the later paraphrasing of Scripture.
* Third, it should express the thoughts and feelings of the
singers, and not merely recall the circumstances or record
the sentiments of David or Asaph or another.
From this point of view Watts planned a full-rounded
"system" of evangelical Hymnody. This system, in form
rather than contents, was in two separate parts; one being
"imitations" of canonical Psalms, the other being hymns
more or less Scriptural in content.
I. As TO Psalms. Watts had no intention of laying them
aside.*^ But he drew a sharp distinction between reading the
sj Psalms and singing them, and between the right methods
of translating them for the particular use designed. He
held that the Psalms are to be read as God's word to us,
and for that end must be translated as literally as possible."^
Such translation must be in English prose, since the exigen-
cies of rhythm and rhyme make a really faithful rendering
of the Hebrew into English verse an impossible thing.^'^
Incidentally therefore he held that those who believed we
^Ibid., p. vi,
V ^ "A short Essay toward the Improvement of Psalmody," 1707, p. 243.
'Ibid., pp. 241-242.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" iii
may sing nothing but the pure word of God must resort to
a prose translation, and inust learn the Hebrew music or at
least employ the method of chanting practiced in English
cathedrals.^
For himself he believed that Congregational Song should
represent not God's word to us, but our word to God, and
that the thoughts and language of the Psalms could be
employed only so far as we could properly make them our
own.^*^ Ancient Jewish songs were to be accommodated to
modern Gospel worship.^^ This involved the omission of
several Psalms and numerous other passages "improper for
any person but the Royal Author" ;^^ also the adaptation of
the remaining material so as to make David always speak
as Watts had reason to believe he would have spoken
if he had been a full}^ instructed Christian living in the day
and under the circumstances of Watts himself. ^^ Such
adaptation was really a two- fold process, — making David
.speak like a Christian and making him a contemporary of
Watts.
For the first process, that of "Christianizing" the Psalms,
Watts claimed precedents, especially Dr. Patrick's. ^^ But
Watts contemplated from the first, and ultimately himself
carried out, a reconstruction along this line far more sys-
tematic and thoroughgoing than any one had hitherto ven-
tured upon. On this subject his feelings were deeply stirred,
and he wrote and acted with a studied aggressiveness that
aimed to conquer, but did nothing to conciliate, those whom
he styled "the Patrons of another Opinion."
The second process, however, that of making David a
contemporary, was surely Watts' own conception, and it
involved some curious transformations of the sacred text.
"Judah and Israel may be called England and Scotland, and
*Ibid., p. 243.
^"Ibid., p. 244.
^^Ibid., p. 254, and preface to Psalms, &c., 1719, p. xvi.
"Preface to Psalms, &c., p. viii.
""Essay," pp. 252-254.
"Preface to Psalms, &c., p. vi.
112 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the land of Canaan may be translated into Great Britain." ^^
Historical allusions must be modified accordingly. David
must be made to play the part of an orthodox and patriotic
English Christian of the early XVIHth century, and all
royal references must be accommodated to the person of the
reigning sovereign. Only thus, in Watts' words, can the
Psalms "be converted into Christian Songs in our Nation."^*"*
If this seem to us now a doubtful device, and seemed then to
a watchful remnant of psalm singers nothing short of sac-
rilege, it did not offend the general taste of the time, and
proved no impediment to the widespread approval of Watts'
scheme for the improvement of Psalmody.
II. As TO Hymns, Watts' plan included also the com-
posing of "Spiritual Songs of a more evangelic frame for
the Use of Divine Worship under the Gospel." Their use
in worship he supports in his "Essay" by five argu-
ments •}'^ —
First. A Psalm properly translated for Christian use is
no longer inspired as to form and language : only its mate-
rials are borrowed from God's word. It is just as lawful
to use other Scriptural thoughts, and compose them into a
spiritual song.
Second. The very ends and design of Psalmody demand
songs that shall respond to the fullness of God's revelation
of Himself. God's revelation in Christ, and our own de-
votions responding to it, require Gospel songs.
Third. The Scriptures themselves, especially Eph : v,
19-20, and Col: iii, 16-17, command us to sing and give
thanks in the name of Christ. Why shall we pray and
preach in that name, and sing under terms of the Law ?
Fourth. The Book of Psalms does not provide for all
occasions of Christian praise, or express all Christian ex-
periences.
Fifth. The primitive "Gifts of the Spirit" covered alike
" "Essay," p. 246.
^'Ibid., p. 246.
"Ibid., pp. 256-266.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 113
preaching, prayer and song. It is admitted by all that,
under the present administration of Grace, ministers are by
study and diligence to acquire and cultivate gifts of preach-
ing and prayer. Why shall they not also seek to acquire and
cultivate the capacity of composing spiritual songs, and
exercise it along with the other parts of worship, preaching
and prayer?
n
HIS FULFILMENT: "WATTS'S PSALMS AND
HYMNS"
With this understanding of Watts' "Scheme for the
Renovation of Psalmody," we may go forward to consider
his own contributions to it.
Dr. Gibbons made himself responsible for the familiar
account of the beginnings of Watts' hymn writing, upon
information received from the Rev. John Morgan, who
claimed to have obtained it from Watts' colleague, Samuel
Price. ^^ It is to the effect that young Watts, having ex-
pressed to his father his disapproval of the hymns sung at
the Southampton meeting house, was invited to improve
upon them. The hymns in question were those of Barton,
of whom Watts' brother Enoch wrote: "Honest Barton
chimes us asleep." ^^ Watts furnished a specimen hymn,
which was so successful that it was followed by others,
until a considerable number were in use by the congrega-
tion.
This account rests on hearsay evidence, but is probably
substantially true. As early as March, 1700, Watts' brother
wrote, reminding him of importunities already made to
put the hymns into print for the common good.^**
"Memoirs of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D. By Thos. Gibbons, Lon-
don, 1780, p. 254.
^^Life, Times and Correspondence of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D.
By Thos. Milner, London, 1834, p. 177.
'"Milner, op. cit., pp. 176 f.
114 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Watts printed his first volume of verse in December
1705,^^ as Horae Lyricae: Poems, chiefly of the lyric kind.
In two books. I. Songs &c. sacred to Devotion. II. Odes,
Elegys, &c. to Vertue Loyalty and Friendship. By I.
Watts. London, printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John
Lawrence, at the Sign of the Angel in the Poultrey.
MDCCVI.
The preface is a protest against the moral decadence of
current poetry, and a justification of religious themes as
suitable for poetic treatment. Book I contains twenty-five
hymns and four Psalm paraphrases in the metres of the
Old Version, and eleven religious songs or pieces of vary-
ing metrical form. In Book II Watts spreads his wings
"in the free and unconfin'd Measures of Pindar" (which
he regarded as best maintaining the dignity of religious
themes, and giving a loose to the devout soul),^^ in blank
verse and in other metres.
The book as a whole is addressed to lovers of poetry, and
Watts' explanation of the inclusion of the hymns reveals
much of his mind and purpose. They "were never written
with a design to appear before the Judges of Wit, but only
to assist the Meditations and Worship of Vulgar Chris-
tians." They are a small part of two hundred hymns of
the same kind ready for public use if these are approved by
the world. They are divided from their fellows and here
printed because "in most of These there are some Expres-
sions which are not suited to the plainest Capacities, and
differ too much from the usual Methods of Speech in which
Holy Things are proposed to the general Part of Man-
kind." ^^ This partition of his materials was final. The
. hymns were augmented in the second edition of the Horae
J (1709), but they always constituted a distinct group apart
^''' "It bears date 1706. For the actual time of publishing, see the
writer's note in The Journal of The Presbyterian Historical Society
for Sept., 1902, p. 358.
"Preface, p. [vii].
''Pp. [viii, ix].
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 115
from his Hymns and Spiritual Songs for congregational
use, within whose covers they never appeared.^'*
It appears then that Watts' admission of some hymns to
a place among his poems was not with a view of showing
that hymns could be made poetic, but was the result of a
winnowing process in which the body of his hymns was
freed from the suspicion of being literary. He accounted
himself a religious poet, with a right to address "the
Judges of Wit." He felt also a real sympathy with plain
people and a call to provide them with hymns on the level
of the unpoetic mind. This note of conscientious conde-
scension in his hymn writing he never failed to sound on
every available occasion. He chose the humbler task, and
thus inadvertently secured a permanent fame to which his
poetical effusions give him a doubtful title.^^ What is
more to the point, he thus freed his hymns from the arti-
ficial standards and to a large extent from the perverted
taste of his time. Having demonstrated in the Horac that
he could compose pindarics, he expected "to be for ever free
from the Temptation of making or mending Poems
again," ^'^ and was ready to give his hymns to the churches.
The body of the Hymns appeared in July, 1707,-''^ in a /
i6mo. volume, entitled Hymns and Spiritual Songs. In
three Books. I. Collected from the Scriptures. H. Com-
pos'd on Divine subjects. HI. Prepared for the Lord's
■'Some of the hymns from the Horae came into use after Watts'
death. The two most familiar are : — "Father, how wide thy Glory
shines !" and "Eternal Power ! whose high Abode."
"•'On the strength of his Horae Lyricac, Watts found a niche in \
Johnson's Lives of the Poets. A later historian discerns that Watts' ,^,
"real artistic successes" are attained in his best hymns: (Courthope,
History of English Poetry, vol. v., 1905, p. 336). For a favorable
view of his metrical experiments, see George Saintsbury, History of
English Prosody, vol. ii, 1908, pp. 508, 509.
^"Preface to 2nd ed. of Horae Lyricae (1709), which is a very dif-
ferent book from the first edition.
""See "Autobiographical Table" reproduced in E. P. Hood, Isaac
Watts; his life and writings, his homes and friends; London, Rel. Tr. ^/
Soc, n. d., p. 345.
ii6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
/ Supper. With an Essay foin'ards the improvement of Chris-
tian Psalmody, by the use of ei'angelical Hymns in zvor-
ship, as well as the Psalms of David. By I. Watts. London,
printed by J. Humfreys, for John Lawrence, at the Angel
in the Poultrey, i/o/.^^ The hymns numbered 210, fol-
lowed by a group of doxologies, at least three of which
must be accounted as hymns. Their arrangement humored
current prejudices. Those willing to sing paraphrases only
might find 78 in the first book : those willing to sing hymns
at the Communion only might find 22 in the third book :
those welcoming "free composures" had no more in the
second book. The hymns were confined to three metres,
Long, Common and Short. An inspection of the original
text of the hymns shows that the differences between it
and the familiar text of later issues are fewer and less im-
portant than might have been expected. ^^
^^The first edition of the Hymns was almost thumbed out of ex-
istence. At the publication of Dr. Julian's scholarly Dictionary of
Hymnology in 1892, every copy was supposed to have perished (see
2nd ed., p. 1724). The announcement of the sale of a copy at Sotheby's,
London, in Dec. 1901, attracted wide attention, and it brought £140.
There are now at least two copies in this country, one in the New
York Public Library and one in the writer's collection. An article
in The Guardian for January 29, 1902, by Rev. James Mearns, was
the first account of this epoch-making book ever published. For
collation and bibliographical data of this and subsequent editions,
with facsimiles of title pages of eds. i and 2, see the writer's paper
on "The Early Editions of Doctor Watts's Hymns" in The Journal of
The Presbyterian Historical Society for June, 1902.
^'The following are among the more interesting of these:
"Come, we that love the Lord," has for its closing lines:
"We're marching thro' Immamicl's Ground
To a more joyful Sky."
"Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove," has in the second verse:
"Look, how we grovel here below,
And hug these trifling Toys."
"When I can read my Title clear," closes thus :
"Nor dares a Wave of Trouble roll
Across my peaceful Breast."
"When I survey the wondrous Cross," has for its second line:
"Where the young Prince of Glory dy'd."
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 117
In a lengthy preface Watts restated and overstated his
sense of condescension in his task as an intent to write
down to "the Level of Vulgar Capacities" and to furnish
in Book I hymns for the meanest of Christians."^^ This
language he modified in the second edition. But the fullest
and most characteristic expression of his views on Psalmody
is contained in "A Short Essay toward the Improvement •)(^
of Psalmody," from which quotations have been already
made. It covers pages 233-276 in the first edition, and did
not appear again in print until the collected Works after
Watts' death. ^^ It was his purpose to prepare a fuller
treatise on Psalmody, which he never executed.^^
The Hymns being printed, Watts invited criticisms from
his friends, and continued his writing. In April, 1709, "the '"•"'
Second Edition. Corrected and much Enlarged," appeared.
Some fifty lines of the original hymns were altered, and
"Why do we mourn departing Friends?" has in the fifth verse:
"Thence he arose and clim'd the Sky."
"Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?" has at the close of the second
verse :
"While the firm mark of Wrath Divine
His Soul in Anguish stood?"
"Now to the Lord a noble Song!" has in the fifth verse, "ye Skies"
(for "ye heavens"), and at the close of the hymn:
"And play his Name on Harps of Gold !"
In 1707 Watts was capable of offering this to the churches for
congregational use (Bk. I, No. 24, vv. 5.6) : —
"S. There the dark Earth and gloomy Shades
Shall clasp their naked Body round,
And welcome their delicious Limbs
With the cold Kisses of the Ground.
"6. Pale Death shall riot on their Souls,
Their Flesh shall noisom Vermine eat,
The Just shall in the Morning rise
And find their Tyrants at their Feet."
'"Preface, pp. viii, x.
''There were no less than seven collective editions of Dr. Watts'
Works : the earliest being that of 1753, in 6 vols., 4to., ed. by Drs. Jen-
nings and Doddridge.
'^ "Advertisement" to the 2nd ed. of Hymns.
ii8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
145 additional hymns appeared here, and also in a separate
supplement to the first edition, printed at the same time.
With this second edition the department of Hymns in
Watts' System of Praise was completed. None of the
hymns written later . was incorporated in subsequent
editions; and although Watts toward the end of his life
expressed a desire to make some changes of text to accom-
modate its expressions to modified theological views, no
such changes were ever made.^^ This situation is partly
explained by the fact that Watts parted with the copyright
of the Hymns, apparently in 1709. They thus passed out
of his control, although a note in the seventh edition of
1720 shows that he still exercised a certain supervision of
their printing,
Turning now to the Psalms : —
Among the hymns of the first part of the Horae was a
little group of four Psalm versions, with the inscription
"An Essay on a few of David's Psalms Translated into
^ Plain Verse, in Language more agreeable to the clearer
Revelations of the Gospel;" showing that the System of
Praise as just described lay in Watts' mind in its integrity
from a very early date. And these versions did in fact
prove to be the actual nucleus of his own Tlie Psalms of
>/ David imitated, as published 13 years later. But it is alto-
gether unlikely that Watts originally proposed to depend
altogether upon his own resources for filling out his pro-
posed System of Praise. The work he entered upon as his
own was the department of Hymns.
We can readily trace the evolution of his purpose regard-
V ing the Psalms. In the first edition of his Hymns, 1707,
he included in all among the Scripture paraphrases four-
teen Psalm versions. Referring to them in his preface,
he says :
"After this manner should I rejoice to see a good part of the
^Tor a discussion of the evidence concerning Watts' desire to
accommodate the text to his later views, see the writer's paper already
cited, pp. 276-279.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 119
Book of Psalms fitted for the use of our Churches, and David con-
verted into a Christian. In the first, second and third Psalms es-
pecially, I have attempted a Specimen of what I desire and hope some
more capable Genius will undertake/^
In the preface to the 2nd edition of the Hymns, two years ^
later (1709), Watts states: "Because I cannot persuade
others to attempt this glorious Work, I have suffered myself
to be persuaded to begin it, and have, thro' Divine Good-
ness, already proceeded half way thro'." In the preface to
the third edition (1712), he speaks of being daily urged
to proceed in the work, of having been hindered by pro-
fessional duties, and of his expectation "e're long to fulfill
my Designs." The long illness beginning in that year de-
barred Watts from his pulpit, but afforded the opportunity
of finishing his work upon the Psalms.
The results appeared in 1719 in a i6mo volume with the
title : — The Psalms of David imitated in the language of
the New Testament, and apply'd to the Christian state and
worship. By I. PVatts. (London: printed for J. Clark,
R. Ford and R. Cruttenden).
The volume presents to the eye a marked contrast with
the early editions of the Hymns, which were rather cheap
and poor. Its fine paper and open page, its engraved head-
pieces and vignettes, suggest an assured welcome. Numer-
ous copies survive with each page set in a frame of hand-
ruling, and bound in richly tooled red morocco, in the style
of luxurious Prayer Books of the period.
The book contains versions of 138 Psalms; the remaining "^
12, and some passages from those retained, being excluded i
from Watts' System as unsuitable for Christian use.
Psalms are divided and passages transposed for con-
siderations of convenience; a note explaining that the cus-
tom of singing with excessively prolonged notes makes
impracticable the singing of more than six or eight verses
at one time.^^ Of many Psalms versions in two or three
"Pp. X, xi.
"Preface, p. xxiv.
v/
^
^-
I20 THE ENGLISH HYMN
metres are provided, differing at times in the degree of
closeness to the original, at times in the Christian inter-
pretation adopted.^*^
A characteristic feature is the notes appended to the
Psalms, sometimes critical or hermeneutical ; often frankly-
written in the first person, to tell the reader his reasons for
what he did, or of the lines he borrowed from some earlier
translator. These notes, and the preface of twenty-nine
pages, entitled "An Enquiry into the right Way of fitting
the Book of Psalms for Christian Worship," were omitted
from the second edition, appearing the same year as the
first, but in smaller and cheaper form. At the close of
this preface Watts characteristically claimed the "Pleasure
of being the First who have brought down the Royal
Author into the common Affairs of the Christian Life, and
led the Psalmist of Israel into the Church of Christ, with-
out any thing of a Jew about him."
With the publication of The Psalms of David imitated
in the forty-sixth year of his life, the System of Praise
which Watts had begun as a youth, and carried forward
through years of ill-health, was complete. He was by no
means unaware of the importance of his performance, and
anticipated something at least of the success it attained. In
a note appended to the 1720 edition of the Hymns, he says :
"It is presumed that" [The Psalms imitated} "in conjunction with
this, may appear to be such a sufficient Provision for Psalmody, as to
answer most Occasions of the Christian Life : And, if an Author's own
Opinion may be taken, he esteems it the greatest Work that ever he
has publish'd, or ever hopes to do, for the use of the Churches."
This judgment has been sometimes quoted as referring
only to his work upon the Psalms, but it plainly includes
his whole System of Praise.
Some notice must also be taken of Dr. Watts' work in
hymn writing outside the limits of this System of Praise.
Of this the most important was the Divine Songs attempted
in easy language, for the use of children, with some addi-
^lUd., p. xxvii.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 121
tional composures, which had already appeared in 171 5. "^
This book had its orij^in in the request of a friend for
hymns to be used in connection with his catechetical instruc-
tions. Both for its contents and its influence it is worthy to
stand beside the Psalms and Hymns; for it must be re-
garded as the fountain-head of the afterwards extensive
Children's Hymnody in the English language; though its
constant reprinting for a century was as a book of verse
or a chap book, and not as a children's hymn book. In
the course of time objection came to be made to the appro-
priateness of its theological teachings. But Watts' original
preface makes it abundantly clear that he aimed to avoid
anything like theological partisanship, and sought to put
into simple verse the beliefs and the tone of thought that
were generally held at the time. He claimed that "children
of high and low degree, of the Church of England or dis-
senters, whether baptized in infancy or not, may join to-
gether in these songs." ^^
In three volumes of Sermons, appearing in 1721, 1723,
and 1727, Watts printed hymns suitable to the subjects
of discourse. In his Reliquiae Juveniles: miscellaneous
thoughts in prose and verse (London, 1734), Watts re-
turned to "the Service of the Muse" he had abjured twenty-
five years earlier, and the hymnic element is very small. It
is even smaller in the volume. Remnants of Time, printed
from his papers after his death. From these sources nu-
merous hymns ultimately found their way into hymn books
and into common use, and in 1806 John Dobell printed
Dr. Watts s Fourth Book of Spiritual Hymns, which he
had gathered together in his zeal that nothing be over-
looked. Nevertheless the Hymns of 1707-09 and The
Psalms imitated of 1719, which by the middle of the
^'Preface, in the early editions. "For their epoch, they were not far
from perfection, as publishers saw." F. J. Harvey Darton in The Cam-
bridge History of English Literature, vol. xi, 1914, p. 413. For
Abraham Cheere and other forerunners of Watts in writing hymns
for children, see Julian, Dictionary, art. "Children's Hymns."
^
122 THE ENGLISH HYMN
XVnith century began to appear bound together in a
single handy volume, contained Watts's System of Praise
in its entirety.^^
Ill
HIS SUCCESS: THE ERA OF WATTS
I. In England
I. He Dominates the Worship of the Independents
From their first appearance Watts' Hymns proved a
spiritual delight to many, and were introduced into such
congregations as were prepared to receive them. On the
other hand many Independent congregations continued their
psalm singing without regard to the new hymns, so strong
was conservative habit and prejudice against hymns. In
view of the extraordinary success ultimately attained, it is
easy to form an exaggerated idea of the facility of their
actual introduction into public worship.
The English Independent congregations at the time
(1707) probably numbered from 350 to 400, and were much
reduced both in size and zeal.'^^ The fact that each con-
gregation was free to sing what it chose and under no obli-
gation to make record of the choice, and the further fact
that one copy in a precentor's hands might serve a whole
congregation, make it difficult to trace or estimate the
process of introducing Watts' Hymns. If we are to follow
Walter Wilson, the historian of London Dissenting
Churches, the Hymns must have found their earliest wel-
come in the provinces. Writing in 1810, under the full
sway of the Watts tradition, he says:
'"The hymns appearing in the so-called Poslhnmotis Work's (Lon-
don, 1779, 2 vols.) had either appeared before or else were by another
hand. Cf. Gibbons, Memoirs of Walts, appendix ii.
'"C/. R. W. Dale, History of English Congregationalism, London,
1907, bk. V, chap. v.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 123
"The poetry of Watts was received but slowly into most of our
congregations. It is only of late years that it has acquired so general
a patronage, and even in the present day there are many who prefer
the rhyming of Brady and Tate, or the bald version of the Scotch.
The reason is, mankind are afraid of innovation, and it is only by de-
grees that their prejudices are loosened."*"
The actual demand for the Hymns can be judged from
the editions called for. The first edition of 1707 was ex-
hausted apparently before the end of 1708,*^ but the second
did not appear until April, 1709, being delayed in the print-
ing. The third edition appeared in 1712, the fourth in
1 714. At the appearance of The Psalms of David imitated
in 1 719, the Hymns were in their sixth edition; the seventh
following in 1720.
The Psalm Imitations, though rousing intense hostility in
a minority, found a double welcome, from those wishing
to use psalms and hymns jointly, and from those ready for
modified Psalm versions though not as yet for hymns. We
have Watts' own testimony that some thousands of copies
were sold within a year of publication.^^ Within ten years
seven editions were called for. The practical effect of in-
troducing the Imitations was to extend the use of the
Hymns also. Congregations used to Dr. Patrick's versions
seemed to be taking but a short step in passing to Watts'
Imitations. But, the step once taken, they found them-
selves within the area of a free Christian Hymnody, in
which the distinction between Psalm and Hymn seemed
hardly more than a convenience in classification and a
deference to accustomed usage.
The strengthening hold of the Hymns appears from the
preface of Simon Browne's Hymns and Spiritual Songs,
published in 1720 at London, where he had come as pastor
of "The Old Jewry." Its lengthy justification of hymn
singing was doubtless directed to the London congregations
*"The History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches . . . in
London, &.C., vol. iii, i8io, p. 527.
^'Milner, op. cit., p. 229.
■•"Note to the 7th ed. of Hymns.
V
124 THE ENGLISH HYMN
to which Wilson referred. But Browne found it wise, even
at that early day, to disclaim any purpose of superseding
Watts' Hymns: "The World, I hope, will not do me the
injury to think, that I aim at being his rival. These hymns
are design'd as a supplement to his, not intended to sup-
plant them. 'Twill satisfy my ambition, if they may assist
the devotion of private Christians, or publick assemblies,
upon such subjects as he hath not touched." ^^
Twenty- four years later Doddridge was able to say to
Watts :
"Above all I congratulate you that by your sacred poetry, especially
Y by your Psalms, and your Hymns, you are leading the worship and I
trust also animating the devotion of myriads in our public assemblies
every Sabbath, and in their families and closets every day. This,
Sir, at least so far as it relates to the service of the sanctuary, is an
unparalleled favour by vv^hich God hath been pleased to distinguish
you, I may boldly say it, beyond any of his servants now upon earth." **
After forty years more the predilection of Independent
congregations for Watts' hymns had become so jealous
that Dr. Gibbons felt called upon to introduce a volume of
his own compositions in these terms :
"But, though [Watts] has done much and perhaps in a happier
Manner than what any after him may be able to perform, yet he has
by no Means precluded the Endeavours of others in the same Service.
Are there not Subjects untouched by him in the almost infinite Extent
of spiritual Matter that may be very suitably wrought up into sacred
Songs? And is it not a Pleasure to the human Mind not to be perpet-
ually restrained to the same Odes, but to have something new with
which to employ itself, though it should not be equal in Composition
with what it has been entertained already; and why should not new
Hymns as well as new Sermons be sent into the World, or if the last
have proved serviceable, why may not the former ?" ■"*
The situation revealed by this apology and plea had not
come about by authority or contrivance, but by the deepen-
^1 ing love of the people for the hymns of Watts. He had
sought and found the plane of their thought and emotion,
''Preface, p. [xv].
"Doddridge to Watts, Dec. 13, 1744, in Gibbons, Memoirs, p. 306.
'^Preface to the Hymns adapted to Divine worship of 1784, pp.
xii, xiii.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 125
and in the general response of their hearts had found his
just reward. An illustration of this is furnished by Dr.
Doddridge, in a letter to Dr. Watts, dated April 5, 1731 : ^"
"On Tuesday last, I was preaching to a large assembly of plain
country people at a village a few miles off, when, after a sermon
from Hebrews, vi. 12, we sang one of your hymns, which, if I
remember right, was the 140th of the 2nd book, and in that part of
the worship I had the satisfaction to observe tears in the eyes of
several of the people; and after the service was over, some of them
told me that they were not able to sing, so deeply were their minds
affected 1 and the clerk, in particular, said he could hardly utter the
words as he gave them out. They were most of them poor people,
who work for their living, yet, on the mention of your name, I found ^
that they had read several of your books with great delight; and that
your psalms and hymns were almost their daily entertainment : and
when one of the company said, 'What if Dr. Watts should come down
to Northampton !' another replied, with remarkable warmth, 'The very
sight of him would be as good as an ordinance to me.' "
The feeling for Watts' Psalms and Hymns thus grew
into an intense personal loyalty. It is well known that as
late as the XlXth century there were many older Congre- V
gationalists who refused to sing any other hymns, and who
kept their seats when such were announced."*^
The supremacy which Watts gained and for a long time
kept in the worship of the Independent churches (as also
far beyond them) was indeed a triumph of personal in-
fluence and of principles that at first seemed radical enough.
If we seek a date at which his domination of Independent
worship culminated, — that is to say when the use of his
Psalms and Hymns came nearest to unanimity, and there
was least disposition to look beyond its covers — it would '^
lie probably somewhere between the middle and end of the
XVIIIth century. But Watts' Psalms and Hymns kept
their place in the hearts of his people, and continued to be
used, either alone or supplemented, until far into the XlXth.
If we include all the religious bodies that used them, their
actual circulation and use must have continually increased,
"Philip Doddridge's Correspondence and Diary, London, 1829-31,
vol. iii, pp. 74, 75-
*^Cf. W. G. Horder, The Hymn Lover, London, n. d., p. 100.
126 THE ENGLISH HYMN
till past the middle of the XlXth century. It is calculated
that in its first twenty-five years a new edition appeared
every year, and claimed that as late as 1864 60,000 copies
were sold within the year.^^''
Striking as are these facts, some of the claims made for
Watts go beyond them. It is difficult to follow even so
competent a hymnologist as Mr. Garrett Horder, when he
says that "For more than a century Watts remained undis-
puted master of the hymnody of the Independents. No
other hymns than his were heard in any of the assemblies";
and again, that "for more than a century Watts was the
only hymnist of the Independent sanctuaries of our land."^^
Where is the place of that century in the calendar? And
is such absolute uniformity predicable of any single year
of either the XVIIIth or XlXth centuries? It is hardly
conceivable even under the workings of a Uniformity Act,
and least so among Independents. We have to take account
of the little band of opponents and detractors, led by
Thomas Bradbury within their ranks, and by Romaine^'^
without, who accused Watts of lampooning^^ and "bur-
lesquing" ^- the Psalter, and refused to sing "Watts'
Whims" : ^^ also of the congregations in which psalm sing-
ing long continued,^^ partly for conscience' sake, more often
doggedly.
Moreover the very success of Watts' Hymns raised up
a succession of imitators, and their use called forth a suc-
cession of "Supplements." These Supplements did not re-
spond to any demand of the people for more hymns, but
arose from the ambition of ministers to get their own hymns
**Duncan Campbell, Hymns and Hymn Makers, London, 1898, p. 38.
*^The Hymn Lover, p. 100.
^'' "Why should Dr. Watts . . . take the precedence of the Holy
Ghost?" Romaine, Essay on Psalmody, 1775, p. 106.
""'Bradbury to Watts, March 7, 1725-6, in Watts' Posthumous Works,
vol. ii, p. 202.
""Watts to Bradbury, March 15, 1725-6, Ibid., vol. ii, p, 212.
"^Wilson's Dissenting Churches, vol. iii, p. 527.
"C/. Wilson, as already quoted.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 127
into use, or their wish for hymns ilhistrative of a greater
number of sermon topics. It is true that their supple-
mentary form bore the strongest testimony to Watts' as-
cendency, but they also prevented that ascendency from
becoming complete. Some gained a considerable circula-
tion. Even the relatively unsuccessful ones were doubtless
used in the compiler's own congregation and more or less
in the congregations of his friends.
These Supplements began in 1720 with Simon Browne's
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. In three Books (London),
containing 266 hymns, all by himself. This reached a
second edition in 1741, a third in 1760, and a number of
the hymns continued in later use.'^^ In 1769 Dr. Thomas
Gibbons (Watts' biographer) published a collection, partly
original, of Hymns adapted to Divine worship: in two
Books (London) ; and a second (entirely original) in 1784,
under the same title. Their narrow welcome and use ap-
pears from the statement in the 1784 preface that some
copies of the earlier book remained unsold. Nor was the
later book ever reprinted. George Burder, author of the
once famous Village Sermons, published in 1784 A Collec-
tion of Hymns from various authors, designed as a Sup-
plement to Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns. He aimed to
gather up the best hymns published since Watts' death by
such writers as Doddridge, Newton and Cowper, the Wes-
leys, and Toplady. His book met a warm welcome, found
continuous use, and by 1840 had reached its thirty-seventh
edition. So far was Burder from wishing to dislodge Watts
from his supremacy that he published in 181 2 an edition
of the Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs by the Rev.
Isaac Watts, D.D., with some improvement in their ar-
rangement. William Jay of Bath, a warm admirer of
"A recast of his "Come, holy spirit, heav'nly dove," is still familiar.
Browne aimed at "the improvement of Psalmody." He bound up with
his Hymns "A Sett of Tunes in 3 Parts (Mostly New)," wrote a
"book" of hymns in "uncommon metres," and designated an appro-
priate tune for each hymn.
128 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Watts, but desiring a greater variety of metres and cor-
responding tunes, published in 1791 Selection of Hymns
of peculiar metre, intended for the use of the Congregation
meeting in Argylc Chapel. It reached a second edition in
1797, and became the basis of his Hymns as an Appendix to
Dr. Watts (Bath, 1833). The supplementing of Watts
assumed great proportions in A Collection of above six hun-
dred Hymns: designed as a new Supplement to Dr. Watts' s
Psalms and Hymns. By the Rev. Edzvard Williams, D.D.,
and the Rev. James Bodcn (Doncaster, 1801 ). It reached a
second edition in 1803, a third in 1806, and a fifth in 1812.
Dr. Williams also printed an improved edition of The
Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts, claiming that "as the
current editions are almost innumerable, so by far the
greater number of them are shamefully incorrect." John
Dobell sought even greater bulk in his A new Selection of
seven hundred evangelical Hymns . . . intended as a Sup-
plement to Dr. Watts' s Psalms and Hymns (London,
1806). After additions the title read more than eight hun-
dred, and Dobell arranged for binding in with it his Dr.
Watts's Fourth Book of Spiritual Hymns. In the Hymns,
partly collected, and partly original, designed as a supple-
ment to Dr. Watts' Psalms and Hymns: by William Bengo
Colly er, D.D. (London, 1812), no less than 979 hymns
were provided, 57 of them original. Thomas Russell's A
Collection of Hymns designed as an Appendix, &c. (Lon-
don, 1 813), was somewhat smaller and was more popular,
attaining its twenty-second edition in 1843. Dr. Andrew
Reed's Supplement of 181 7 became the nucleus of his more
important Hymn Book of 1842. Something in the way
of concerted action as to Hymnody began to seem expedi-
ent, and in 1822 a committee of ministers in Leeds pub-
lished A Selection of Hymns for the use of the Protestant
Dissenting Congregations of the Independent Order in
Leeds.
This succession of "Supplements" to Dr. Watts' tells its
own story of a progress so natural and inevitable as to
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 129
require little emphasis were it not for the curious and
familiar assumption of the exclusive use of Watts' Psalms
and Hymns, which even Dr. Conder expressed in 1851 by
speaking of "our having been for a long time confined to
this one Book." ^^
When the Congregational Union undertook the prepara-
tion of an official hymn book for general use, Dr. Conder
and others who discerned the signs of the times favored a
selection of Watts' best and of hymns by others in a single
volume.^" But the majority were unwilling to give up
"Watts Entire"; and in 1836 The Congregational Hymn
Book appeared as still A Supplement to Dr. Watts' s Psalms
and Hymns, containing a good selection of 620 hymns
edited by Dr. Conder. The result was that in the years
following many congregations gave up the use both of
Watts and The Congregational Hymn Book in favor of
private collections more compact and convenient.
The striking ascendency of Dr. Watts over Independent
worship had at last reached its inevitable end. The re-
action, equally inevitable to a popularity so great as to be
undiscriminating, soon followed. It was discovered that a
considerable percentage of Watts' work was prosaic and
mechanical, and sometimes in questionable taste. People
began to wonder why the churches had so long allowed a
single mind to dominate their song. A winnowing of the
familiar Psalms and Hymns began, and has steadily pro-
ceeded to our own time, with the result that in some recent
Congregationalist hymnals Dr. Watts' contributions are
outnumbered by the Methodist Wesley and the high church
Neale. It is, however, to be said that the adoption of a
hymn book by a single author had not seemed strange to
congregations accustomed to one version of the Psalms.
And we may agree with Conder^^'* that the addiction of the
Independents to Watts fixed the character of their devo-
"'Josiah Conder, The Poet of the Sanctuary, London, 185 1, p. 68.
^'•Ibid., p. 69.
''Ibid., p. 68.
I30 THE ENGLISH HYMN
tions, and under Providence preserved an evangelical tone
of sentiment in their church worship.
2. His Ascendency over the Presbyterians Ter-
minates IN A Unitarian Hymnody
The measure of welcome given by Presbyterians to the
Psalms and Hymns of Watts is hardly to be distinguished
from that of the Independents with whom they fraternized.
Some congregations, desiring an evangelical Hymnody,
were ready to introduce the Hymns; some awaited the
appearance of the Psalms; others were prejudiced in favor
of the stricter type of Psalmody.
It was the refusal in 171 7 of James Peirce, pastor of a
psalm singing congregation at Exeter, to continue the ac-
customed singing of the doxology after the psalm that
marked the beginning of the end of English Presbyterian-
ism.^^ He might, and probably did, allege his objection to
sing anything but the words of Psalms.^*' But the dox-
ology was specifically Trinitarian, and the time one of dread
lest the Arianism that had affected the Church of England
should spread to Dissent. Peirce denied holding Arian
views, but refused as tyrranous the demand of a committee
exercising Presbyterial charge of the five Exeter meetings
that he sign a declaration of belief in the Trinity. In this
refusal he had wide sympathy. As a result of the Salters'
Hall controversy of 1719,*^^ to which it gave rise, the
majority of Presbyterian ministers became committed to
the attitude of non-subscription to any doctrinal formulas.
In the fifty years following, most of the churches that did
not die out or seek a refuge in Independency yielded one
by one to the influences of the time, and drifted through
""McCrie, Annals of English Presbytery, London, 1872, p. 301.
^"Cf. Drysdale, History of Presbyterianism in England, London,
1889, p. 500.
"'For an account of it see H. S. Skeats, A History of the Free
Churches of England, 2nd ed., London, 1869, pp. 302 flf. Watts, like
Calamy, refused to attend the meeting at Salters' Hall.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 131
various stages of Arian belief into the developed Unitarian-
ism of the latter part of the XVIIIth century.
During the earlier of these years the propriety of using
Watts' Psalms and Hymns remained unquestioned. But it
was inevitable that certain passages should be confronted
by the new opinions, especially the "Song of Praise to the
ever-blessed Trinity," as Watts entitled the doxologies at
the end of his volume of Hymns.
Martin Tomkins, dismissed from a dissenting pulpit as
an Arian, and attending the Mare Street Presbyterian Meet-
ing at Hackney, frequently protested against the use of the
doxologies there. The pastor, the Rev. John Barker, one
of the minority for subscription, declined to discontinue the
custom. Tomkins printed in 1 738 A calm Enquiry whether
we have any warrant, from Scripture, for addressing our-
selves, in a way of prayer or praise, directly to the Holy
Spirit, etc.; prefaced by a letter to Mr. Barker, repeating
his protests, and reinforced by quotations from Watts' later
works. In a letter to Dr. Watts, dated April 21, 1738, Mr.
Tomkins put to him the direct question, —
"Whether you now approve of what you have said concerning the
Gloria Patri, in your Book of Hymns; and whether, upon your present
notion of the Spirit, you can esteem some of those Doxologies you
have given us there, I will not say, 'as some of the noblest parts of
Christian worship,' but as proper Christian worship? And if not,
whether you may not think it becoming you, as a lover of truth, and
as a Christian minister, to declare as much to the world ; and not
suffer such forms of worship to be recommended by your name and
authority, to the use of the Christian Church in the present time and
in future generations?"
On the margin of this letter (then in Mr. Palmer's posses-
sion) Dr. Watts had endorsed some twenty remarks, and
opposite the last paragraph wrote :
"I freely answer, I wish some things were corrected. But the ques-
tion with me is this : as I wrote them in sincerity at that time, is it
not more for the edification of Christians, and the glory of God, to let
them stand, than to ruin the usefulness of the whole book, by correct-
ing them now, and perhaps bring further and false suspicions on my
present opinions? Besides, I might tell you, that of all the books I
have written, that particular copy is not mine. I sold it for a trifle to
132 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Mr. Lawrence near thirty years ago, and his posterity make money of
it to this day, and I can scarce claim a right to make any alteration
in the book which would injure the sale of it.""
A perhaps exaggerated impression of the change in Dr.
Watts' views served to endear his Psalms and Hymns to the
Presbyterians. Some congregations, by the simple expedient
of omitting certain passages and the doxologies, kept them
in use until the end of the XVHIth century.*^^ But long
before that various ministers, by modifying or supplement-
ing Watts, had prepared for their congregations praise
books more consonant with the new views. In most of
them Watts' text was freely "tinkered." The report was
industriously circulated that he had planned and even exe-
cuted a revision of his Hymns on Arian lines, all evidence
of which was suppressed at his death. ^'^ The report was
plainly unwarranted, but it encouraged the hymn book
makers to do for him what they supposed he would have
done on his own behalf.
The eminent Michaijah Towgood is thought to be the
editor of ^4 Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Divine
worship (London, 1757; 2nd ed. : 1779). In it Watts
was supplemented by Tate and Brady, Addison, Doddridge
and Browne. Michael Pope of the Leather Lane Meeting,
London, followed with A Collection of Psalms and Hymns
for Divine worship (London, 1760). Of these more than
half were from Watts, freely altered; and there were
original contributions from Kippis, Grove and other Pres-
byterians. Two books, the first partly, the second wholly,
edited by Dr. Enfield, had a much longer life: — A new
Collection of Psalms proper for Christian worship (Liver-
pool, 1764), and Hymns for public worship, selected from
""These documents were printed from the originals by the Rev.
Samuel Palmer in his notes to Johnson's Life of Watts (1791). They
were reprinted in the Boston Memoirs of IVatts and Doddridge (1793),
and substantially in Milner.
"^Cf. preface to A Collection of Hymns and Psalms, ed. by Kippis
et. al. 1795.
"See "The Early Editions of Watts's Hymns," already cited.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 133
various authors, and intended as a Supplement to Dr.
Watts' s Psalms (Warrington, 1772). To the latter the
editor's neighbor, Mrs. Barbauld, contributed six hymns,
two of which are still sung. An abridgment of Dr. Watts's
Psalms and Hymns, with some alterations, &c. (cir. 1780),
edited by W. Wood and B. Carpenter, is interesting for
its reversion to that author and restoration in the main of
his text.
The new "Presbyterianism" had already been augmented
by recruits from the Church of England, who brought with
them a taste for liturgical worship. A series of psalm and
hymn collections appended to Forms of Prayer began with
A Form of Prayer and a new Collection of Psalms, for the
use of a Congregation of Protestant Dissenters in Liver-
pool (Liverpool, 1763).'^^ Theophilus Lindsey's A Collec-
tion of Psalms and Hymns for public zuorship, which fol-
lowed in 1774, was appended to Dr. Samuel Clarke's rescen-
sion of the Prayer Book. The most interesting of the
group is A Collection of Hymns for public worship: on the
general principles of natural and revealed Religion (Salis-
bury, 1778). It aimed at the common denominator, shun-
ning spheres of controversy. It reflects also the poetic
feeling of one of its editors, Benjamin Williams, last min-
ister of the old Presbyterian congregation in Salisbury : it
has metrical variety, and attains a flavor of letters.
By this time the number of available hymn books was
considerable in England, and two were about to appear in
the North of Ireland, where the Scottish Psalms in meeter
had so far continued in vogue : — the Hymns for the use of
the Presbyterian Congregation in Lisburn (Belfast, 1787),
and a Londonderry Collection of Psalms and Hymns proper
for Christian worship (1788). The older Presbyterianism
was being completely submerged by Unitarianism of the
more aggressive type, as represented by Priestley, leaving
"C/. an interesting note by Jas. Martineau in the index to The
University Hymn Book, Cambridge, Mass., 1895, under "Collet,
Samuel."
134 THE ENGLISH HYMN
hardly a vestige of its earlier denominational existence
beyond the name "Presbyterian" still applied to Unitarian
chapels. Newcome Cappe of York endeavored to keep to
common ground by confining himself to Psalms in A Selec-
tion of Psalms for social worship (1786), and George
Walker of Nottingham published A Collection of Psalms
and Hymns for public zvorship, unmixed with the disputed
doctrines of any sect (Warrington, 1788). But Priestley
himself, in his Psalms and Hymns for the use of the New
Meeting in Birmingham (1790), freely modified Watts
"for the sake of rendering the sentiment unexceptionable
to Unitarian Christians." "It is to long use only," he
claimed in the preface, "that many of Watts's own verses
are indebted for the little offence they now give even to
the ear, and much more to the understanding." Unhappily
the fire by which the mob destroyed his dwelling and the
New Meeting House consumed the new hymn books also
to such an extent that his people had to fall back upon
Watts' Psalms and Hymns in their unexpurgated form, as
used at the Old Meeting.
In London and its vicinity "the generality of the Presby-
terian Societies [had] contented themselves solely with Dr.
Watts's Psalms." ^^ To correct this four ministers, headed
by the venerable and admirable Andrew Kippis, combined
to issue A Collection of Hymns and Psalms for public and
private worship; selected and prepared by Andrew Kippis,
D.D., F.R.S., & F.S.A.; Abraham Rees, D.D., F.R.S.,
F.L.S.; the Rev. Thomas Jervis, and the Rev. Thomas
Morgan, LL.D., London, 1795. Its 690 pieces were selected
and pruned "to promote just and rational sentiments of
religion." There was a second edition in 1797, and supple-
ments in 1807 a"d 1852. This collection found a wider
acceptance and use than any of its predecessors, which were
mostly confined to the localities in which their several
editors ministered. It was probably fairly representative
of the Unitarianism of the XVIIIth and early XlXth cen-
^''Preface to the Kippis Collection, 1795.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 135
turies. But the celebration of the Divine nature and works
to which it was mainly devoted does not appear to have
aroused any warmth of feeling in the compilers, and their
avoidance of the area of personal Christian experience
seems to leave the worshipper a spectator at Bethlehem and
Calvary rather than a participant in redemption.^ ^
The individualism of the Unitarian movement militated
not only against a standard of doctrine but even against a
common hymn book. English and Irish Unitarian Hym-
nody has no corporate history, but proceeds by a succession
of individual hymn books; and in their production the
years following the publication of the Kippis Collection
were the most active. The earlier period of Unitarian
Hymnody may be regarded as ended when in 1840 Dr.
Martineau published his Hymns for the Christian Church
and Home. And it has been estimated that in the forty-five
years intervening between Kippis and Martineau on an
average one Unitarian hymn book, large or small, was
issued every year.^^ Of these the most significant, from the
point of view of circulation and use, were Robert Aspland's
A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for Unitarian worship
(iSio),*'^ Dr. Lant Carpenter's A Selection of Psalms and
Hymns for social and private worship (Exeter, 1812), and
A Selection of Hymns and Psalms for Christian worship.
By H. E. Howse, jun. (Bath, 1830). Howse claimed no
"superior assortment of hymns," but offered to the poor
"a good sized Hymn Book at a low price" (in 32mo i^.),
and seems thus to have met a need.
But a few collections of the period have a special interest
as bearing upon the development of a Unitarian Hymnody.
The need of it, and also the ideal of it as presented to the
minds of the early leaders, are set forth in George Walker's
preface of 1788: —
"C/. a Unitarian estimate in Julian, Diet. Hymn., p. 1193.
^''Valentine D. Davis in Julian, ut supra.
"'In this the term "Unitarian" seems to have first appeared on the
title-page of a hymn book.
V
136 THE ENGLISH HYMN
"The great change in religious faith which has taken place in this
island, since the period in which the different collections of Psalms
or Hymns of most general acceptation were first introduced, has
rendered it highly improper, if not absolutely criminal, to continue
any longer in the use of what the mind at present revolts from.
Whatever be the faith of any society, no worship ought to be presented
to God, which contradicts that faith. It had indeed been well if the
peculiarities of religious faith had never intruded into a part of
worship, whose characteristic features are gratitude, and a virtuous
conformity to the will of God. As our predecessors however unhap-
pily thought otherwise, it is the principal object of this collection
to remove the offence, which their doctrinal zeal has occasioned to
their successors."
The ideal thus set forth of a Hymnody doctrinally color-
less was that held in common by perhaps all the early
leaders; and prior editors of Unitarian hymn books had
not only sought to contribute new hymns according with
it, but had felt free to "accommodate" to it hymns already
in use. But the acrid vigor of Walker's insistence on the
pressing duty of modifying existing hymns was occasioned
by the persistence of the people's predilection for the one
version of the Psalms bearing an "evangelical interpreta-
tion" and their doubtless illogical attachment to the evan-
gelical hymns of Watts and Doddridge. Walker applied his
principle (especially to Watts) with a strong though un-
skilled hand; "the alterations bearing no small proportion
to the whole work, and in many of the psalms and hymns
the retaining the name of the original author must be
considered as a mere acknowledgment of the source from
which the composition was derived." '^^ In this course he
was followed by subsequent editors, with the inevitable
result that in extracting the color of doctrine from the
hymns, much of their vigor and warmth also passed out.
The first generation of Unitarians, who had been familiar
with the original text of these hymns, objected to the
changes, but in course of time, as the modified texts passed
from book to book, only the more curious were aware that
Watts, Doddridge, Wesley, Toplady, Newton, and Cowper
'•Preface, p. vii.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 137
had expressed themselves quite otherwise than in the Hnes
bearing their names in the Unitarian hymn booksJ^ But
Robert Wallace, a minister at Chesterfield, became dis-
satisfied with the "altogether unwarranted" liberties editors
had taken with the originals, and with the method itself of
obtaining a Unitarian Hymnody by a process of expurgating
orthodox hymns. He was influenced also'^ by Mrs.
Barbauld's plea^^ for more warmth and a freer scope for
the language of the affections than was then thought per-
missible in Unitarian worship. He gave much time to
preparing a hymn book in which "no wanton or unadvised
deviations" from the originals were admitted and for which
new hymns were sought. It appeared as A Selection of
Hymns for public and private worship (Chesterfield, 1822;
2nd ed., 1826), a notable rather than very influential step
in the right direction.
In the debates and contests between Evangelicals and
Unitarians little attention had been given to Unitarian
hymn books. In the legal proceedings respecting the Lady
Hewley Fund, among numerous Unitarian publications
introduced into the pleadings to exhibit their tenets, no
reference appears to have been made to the hymns used in
their chapels. But in 1834 the editor of The Christian
Observer, the great Evangelical organ, happened to take up
a hymn book that for two and a half years had been in
"Some of the hymn book editors were no exception. Thus Dr.
Lant Carpenter, explaining his references to his sources, says : "A
large proportion of the older hymns were in the first instance taken
from collections in common use among Unitarians, with which I had
long been familiar, and which therefore might appear to me less
altered from the originals than they really were." The Christian
Observer, Oct., 1834, p. 594.
"See his preface of 1822.
''^Devotional pieces, compiled from the Psalms and the Book of Job;
to which arc prefixed Thoughts on the devotional taste, &c. (London,
I77S)> PP- 14 ff- Both the selection and essay were coldly received
by the Priestley circle of Unitarians to whom no doubt it was espe-
cially addressed, as also by the public. Cf. Grace A. Ellis, Memoir of
A. L. Barbauld, Boston, 1874, vol. i, p. 74.
138 THE ENGLISH HYMN
his hands for review, and "utterly forgotten," — A Collec-
tion of Hymns for the use of Unitarian Christians in public
worship and in the private culture of the religious affections
(Bristol, 1831). This book, edited by Dr. Lant Carpenter,
differed in no respect from numerous predecessors in the
extent and freedom of its use of evangelical hymns "accom-
modated" to Unitarian views. But to the editor the method
was plainly a novelty, and in a belated review he subjected
both method and results to a scathing condemnation.^^
For "torturing the sacred strains of orthodox lyrists till
they uttered sounds utterly discrepant to those intended by
their authors" he charged the editor with "heinous crimes
against right feeling," "indecent, unfeeling, and pregnant
with enormous evils," but in so far as the mutilations were
acknowledged and fairly pointed out, not with dishonesty.
He found, however, numerous hymns of evangelical
writers, whose names were attached to them, seriously
altered and without any indication of such changes being
given. These alterations he characterized as "secret and
disingenuous," misleading, and "in truth the most dis-
gracefully dishonest."
The subsequent debate made it clear that in the omission
of indications of alteration Dr. Carpenter was guilty of
nothing worse than that ignorance of his materials and
carelessness in their handling that obtained generally among
the compilers of hymn books. But the larger questions
raised in this debate are still of living interest. The prac-
tice of signing an author's name to what he did not write
is even now common enough, but ought to find no defender.
The question of the extent to which an editor is justified
in "accommodating" the sentiments of another's hymn to
the views of himself or his constituency is larger and more
difficult. It involves matters of principle, expediency and
good taste; and every editor must decide them for himself.
The Christian Observer was doubtless unaware that honored
'*The review is in the number for July, 1834; for the subsequent
debate see the numbers for October and December of the same year.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 139
editors of its own school had "accommodated" the Wesleys'
hymns to Calvinism by expunging such phrases as favored
"universal redemption," "the second rest," and the like.
To bind an editor of any school by a rigid rule that a hymn
must in all cases be taken verbatim or left alone would
not promote the best interests of Hymnody. On the other
hand, an expurgated Hymnody such as was developed by
early Unitarianism is well adapted to promote just such
bad feeling as The Christian Observer manifested, and at
best fails to win one's regard.
This was the view taken of the current Unitarian Hym-
nody by the accomplished John R. Beard of Manchester,
whether or not he was influenced by the unpleasant debate
in the pages of The Christian Observer. To him "it seemed
a sort of reflection on either the talent or the devotional
feeling" of Unitarians that they were "necessitated to em-
ploy in their psalmody the compositions of Trinitarian
and Calvinistic writers" "in an altered if not mutilated
shape." The necessary adaptation involved frequently
"matters of high doctrinal importance," tending "to create
in the minds of Unitarian compilers a certain jealousy
which, in pruning away the exuberance of orthodoxy, de-
stroyed sometimes the richness of scriptural truth," and
involving changes "alien from the original spirit of the
hymn" and "in many cases repugnant to taste and
feeling." ^^
"The natural resource," Mr. Beard said, "is to prepare
a collection of hymns composed exclusively by Unita-
rians." ''^ His hymn book, so prepared, appeared as A
Collection of Hymns for public and private zvorship. Com-
piled by John R. Beard. London and Manchester, i8^y.
Of living writers whom he enlisted in his project Dr.
Bowring leads with 82 hymns; William Gaskell follows
with 79, J. C. Wallace with 64, J. R. Wreford with 55,
'•'From his preface of 1837.
"In his proposals printed in The Christian Teacher and Chronicle,
1836.
140 THE ENGLISH HYMN
J. Johns with 35, Jacob Brettell with 16, Harriet Martineau
and Jane Roscoe with 5 each, Hugh Hutton with 3, WilHam
S. Roscoe with i. Of the generation that had passed, Mrs.
Barbauld, then regarded as its foremost Unitarian hymn
writer, leads with 14 hymns, John Taylor follows with 12,
Edmund Butcher and William Roscoe with 8 each, Emily
Taylor with 7, Sir J. E. Smith with 6, W. Lamport with 3,
Dr. Estlin and Dr. Drummond with 2 each, William
Drennan and P. Houghton with i each. If to these names
we add George Dyer, John J. Taylor and Lant Carpenter
of Beard's contemporaries and Helen Maria Williams
(author of "While Thee I Seek, protecting Power") of
the prior generation, the representation of the later Uni-
tarian hymn writers is practically complete. There are
also no less than 56 hymns by American Unitarians. The
representation of the earlier writers is far less inclusive.
Of the original Arian or semi-Arian group, including Henry
Grove, Thomas Scott, Roger Flexman, and John Breckell,
there are no hymns. Of the writers of developing Uni-
tarianism, there are 6 by Henry Moore, 4 by Thomas
Jervis and i by William Enfield, but Benjamin Williams,
Andrew Kippis and George Walker are not represented.
Beard's Collection is thus an anthology of the original
hymn writing of a developed Unitarianism, and affords a
basis for estimating it as affecting the ideal of the Hymn
and as contributing to the store of hymns. Unitarian
Hymnody should be set not only against Dr. Watts' System
of Praise which made its background, but also against the
Hymnody of Christian Experience developed, as will duly
appear, by the great XVIIIth century Revival. Its criterion
is doctrinal. It is a protest against and a substitute for
hymns "with sectarian peculiarities" (by which we may
understand what is called evangelical doctrine) and "the
fervors of fanaticism" ^^ (by which we may understand
Methodism). This sense of protest accounts for the devo-
tional coldness and aloofness from Christianity of the
''Beard's preface.
''RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 141
earlier hymn writing, and this sense of reconstruction
accounts for a gradual return to the area of Christian
experience and that "warmth of the true Christian life"
sought for and expressed in Beard's Collection. Apart from
the doctrinal feature the Unitarian Hymnody showed no
special development of the Hymn in any way. The Arian
hymns had affiliated strongly with Metrical Psalmody; the
Unitarian hymns to a large extent pertain to the realm of
devotional poetry rather than of Hymnody proper; and
of both the proportion is small that can be said to rise
above the level of the commonplace.'^^ Among Beard's
contributors time has set the seal of approval on the work
of two. Sir John Bovv^ring found a ground where all
Christian hearts may meet in such hymns as "God is Love,
His mercy brightens," and "In the cross of Christ I glory" ;
as did also John R. Wreford in his "Lord, I believe; Thy
power I own," and "When my love to Christ grows weak."
Among Unitarians themselves, Beard's Collection was less
used as a source book for later compilers in England than
in the United States.
As a protest against hymn tinkering and as a novel effort
to reconstruct Unitarian Hymnody out of materials ex-
clusively LTnitarian Beard's Collection is of permanent
interest. As a hymn book intended for congregational use
it was a complete failure. It involved an entire separation
of Unitarian Praise from the main stream of English
Hymnody, the renunciation of all the great hymns of the
Church, however unexceptionable from the Unitarian
standpoint; and for this the ministers and congregations
were by no means ready. "The plan strikes us," said The
Christian Examiner, "as most extraordinary."^® And in this
"This is Henry Ware jr's estimate of Beard's Collection — "We
are not certain that there exist any better than a few of the best of
these. There are many that are only tolerable, and some that are
intolerable ; many incomplete, many prosaic and commonplace, and
some unsuited to use in public worship." The Christian Examiner
(Boston), March, 1838, p. 94.
"November, 1836, p. 271.
142 THE ENGLISH HYMN
judgment most people are likely to concur. As a protest
also against the "accommodation" of orthodox hymns,
Beard's efforts were to prove equally in vain.
After the rise of this new Unitarian Hymnody there
was no further (old) Presbyterian Psalmody or Hymnody
in England, beyond that of a faithful remnant in the
Northern counties and some scattered congregations of
resident Scotchmen, until the formation in 1836 of the
Presbyterian Church in England, which began its career by
harking back to The Psalms of David in meeter of 1650.
3. His Ascendency over the Baptists Leads up to
A Homiletical Hymnody
Among the older General Baptist churches the strong
prejudice against public singing lingered through much of
the XVnith century, encasing their worship in a hard shell
which even the influence of Watts found it hard to pene-
trate. And as one by one these churches yielded to the
modern spirit, it would be hard to measure his part in the
many inducements to the change. There was no notable
church extension in the denomination until the Methodist
Revival, when numerous congregations of those led to
adopt Baptist sentiments were organized in Yorkshire and
neighboring counties. These new churches came at once
within the influence of Methodist hymn singing. With
some seceders from the Old Connexion they formed in 1770
the New Connexion, under whose auspices the first General
Baptist hymn book appeared at Halifax in 1772 as Hymns
and Spiritual Songs, mostly collected from various authors;
with a few that have not been published before. In 1785
Samuel Deacon, a village clockmaker and pastor of Barton,
published his original hymns as A new composition of
Hymns and Poems chiefly on Divine subjects; designed for
the amusement and edification of Christians of all denomi^
nations, more particidarly those of the General Baptist per-
suasion (Leicester, 1785). These homely hymns had much
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 143
of the revival spirit, and became known by the name of
Barton Hymns, which was given them in the second edition
(1797)-
In 1 791 the General Baptist Association authorized a
new hymn book, which appeared in 1793 as Hymns and
Spiritual Songs, selected from various authors (London,
D. Taylor). But in 1800 John Deacon, who had helped to
compile it, issued on his own account A new and large Col-
lection of Hymns and Psalms (London, H. D. Symonds) ;
and this, after winning its unauthorized way among the
churches, was revised by a Committee of the General Bap-
tist Association, and in 1830 formally adopted as the hymn
book of the Connexion,^*^ under the title of The General
Baptist Hymn Book.
Among Particular Baptist churches some were already
singing hymns, especially on sacramental occasions, when
Watts' Hymns first appeared. His Hymns, and later his
Psalms, doctrinally acceptable, fell in with the desire to
enlarge the use of hymns, and helped much also to create
such a desire. It is significant that after the appearance of
Stennett's two little booklets of sacramental hymns no Bap-
tist hymn book v^as published until 1769. There is little diffi-
culty in filling the apparent gap of half a century. It was
the time when Watts' Psalms and Hymns were gradually
working their way into the churches and into the hearts of
the Particular Baptists, and establishing there a place only
second to that they held among his own people.
But one effect of the use of Watts' hymns was to en-
courage the habit of employing the last hymn in the service
as an application of the sermon. In the course of time it
became apparent that the Hymns were not in sufficient
variety to cover all the sermon themes. Preachers were
led to search other books for hymns pertinent to their ser-
mons, and a number to compose hymns of their own on the
Watts model, to be lined out to the people after the ser-
^"Cf. H. S. Burrage, Baptist Hytnn Writers and their Hymns, Port-
land, Me., n. d., p. 632.
v^
144 THE ENGLISH HYMN
mon.^^ With some of these compositions in hand, but
especially in view of the publication in 1760 of the hymns of
Miss Anne Steele, two pastors, John Ash of Pershore and
Caleb Evans of Bristol, felt that the time had come for a
Baptist hymn book. They published at Bristol in 1769
A Collection of Hymns adapted to public worship. As it
was designed to supersede Watts' Psalms and Hymns, many
of his best hymns were included. Of the new Baptist
writers, there were 62 by Miss Steele, and some by Bed-
dome, Daniel Turner, Joseph Stennett, and James Newton.
It was well received, and continued in use for more than
half a century, reaching a tenth edition in 1827. But it was
far indeed from superseding Watts in Baptist use. So
many churches remained which were unwilling to give up
his Psalms and Plymns and yet desired other and especially
Baptist hymns, that John Rippon, Gill's successor at Carter
Lane, published in 1787 A Selection of Hymns from the
V best authors, intended to be an Appendix to Dr. Watts' s
Psalms and Hymns (London, T. Wilkins). This book of
588 hymns was conceived in the interest of the "Hymn after
Sermon," in the belief that "A too great Variety is a thing
scarcely to be conceived of," and full use was made of the
Hymnody of the Wesleyan and Evangelical revival.®^
Rippon's judgment and taste, his command of originals, and
his editorial discretion, were such as to ensure lasting suc-
cess, and to secure to himself a permanent place in the
history of hymn singing. His Selection reached its tenth
edition in 1800, enlarged by sixty hymns, and was again
enlarged in 1827. After Rippon's death, it appeared in
1844, increased by an addition of 400 hymns, as The Com-
prehensive Rippon, containing 11 74 hymns. When we
remember that these were an appendix to "Watts entire,"
we become aware of the lengths to which the homiletical
^'C/. preface to Rippon's Selection, 1787. Rippon states that only
then was the practice of singing without lining "gaining ground" in
some congregations "in London, at Bristol, and elsewhere."
''Preface, p. 3.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 145
conception and use of hymns naturally leads. Well had
Rippon feared, in introducing his original 588 hymns, "that
after sermon there will be many Subjects sought for in
vain, both in this Appendix, and in Dr. Watts." '^''
Rippon's Selection became, in connection with Watts, a
standard of Baptist Hymnody, which it did so much to
enlarge. It served also as a source book for the makers of
many hymn books in the Church outside, in a period when
hymnal making was largely done with scissors; and by this
means Rippon has permanently impressed himself upon the
Churches as having influenced their choice of hynms. His
book in itself carries forward Particular Baptist Hymnody
to our own time, being used in Spurgeon's Tabernacle till
1866 in connection with Watts.^^ It w^as also a link of
connection between Baptist Hymnody in England and
America, and was reprinted in New York as early as 1792.
There appeared, however, from one motive or another,
a considerable number of other Baptist collections during
the earlier years of the XlXth century. One line of these
represents the desire of hymn writers to give currency to
their own compositions. Among such, not of sufficient
importance to be grouped with the Baptist "School of
Watts" hereafter to be noticed, were : — Jonathan Franklin's
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, composed for the use of the
Baptist Church at Croyden, Surrey (1801 ; 3rd ed., 1823) ;
W. Augustus Clarke's eccentric Hymns doctrinal and ex-
perimental for the free-born citizens of Zion (1801) ; W.
W. Home's Sion's Harmony of Praise (1823), with 98
originals and the declaration, "I am happy to class with
those whom I have denominated choristers" ; and John H.
Hinton's (it6) Hymns by a Minister (1833).^^
Another line of hymn books purposed no more than to
supplement Watts or Watts and Rippon on themes over-
'Treface, p. 4.
"Preface to Spurgeon's Our own Hymn Book.
"Sketches and specimen hymns of these writers may be found iin
Burrage, op. cit.
146 THE ENGLISH HYMN
looked by them. Such were James Upton's A Collection of
Hymns designed as a Supplement to Dr. Watts s Psalms
and Hymns (1814; 3rd ed., 1818) ; George Francis' A
Selection of Hymns (1824) ; and the much more successful
A New Selection of Hymns (1828), compiled by a com-
mittee of Particular Baptist ministers, and edited by W.
Groser; of which 60,000 copies were sold in ten years. ^®
It was enlarged in 1838 as A Selection of Hymns for the
use of Baptist Congregations, and a supplement was added
as late as 1871. More independent of the Watts tradition
were John Bailey's Sions Melody (1813) with some origi-
nals; James H. Evans' Psalms and Hymns, selected chiefly
for public worship, and the Scottish A Selection of Hymns
adapted for divine worship of Christopher Anderson, both
of 1818; and John Stenson's The Baptist's Hymn Book
( 1838) with many of his own hymns.
Still a third line of hymn books came from the high
Calvinistic element among Particular Baptists, and repre-
sented their dissatisfaction on doctrinal grounds with the
continued use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns and the sup-
plementary Selection of Rippon. In turning from Unita-
rianism to the rigid wing of the Particular Baptists, we have
crossed from the extreme left to the extreme right of the
theology of dissent; and while the Unitarians were re-
nouncing Watts' Psalms and Hymns as "Trinitarian and
Calvinistic," the high Calvinist Baptists were turning from
them as not sufficiently differentiated from Arminianism,
A new Selection of Hymns by John Stevens of Meard's
Court Chapel, London, appeared in 1809, and as rearranged
by J. S. Anderson in 1871 is still in use. William Gadsby,
who like Stevens was a writer of hymns, published A Selec-
tion of Hymns for public worship in 1814. To this nucleus
a second part of 157 of his own hymns, a supplement com-
piled by him, nearly the whole of Hart's Hymns, and a
further supplement by J. C. Philpot, were successively
annexed ; and the whole, edited by Gadsby's son John, is still
""Preface, ed. 1838, p. i.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 147
in use as Gadsby's Hymns. ^~ Some of the Hymns in Watts'
and Rippon's books give, Gadsby said in his original preface,
"as legal a sound as if they had been forged at a certain
foundry," the allusion being of course to Wesley's meeting
house known by that name. Edward Mote published in
1836 Hymns of praise. A new Selection of Gospel Hymns,
containing all the excellencies of our spiritual poets, and
many originals. For the use of all spiritual zvorshippers.
To Mote spirituality and Calvinism were inseparable, and
his collection, which reached a third edition in 1853, is an
antholog}' of Calvinistic praise. The latest of the group,
and probably the one in largest present use, appeared in
1837 as The Saints' Melody. By David Denham. Denham
disparaged neither Watts nor Rippon, but rendered them
superfluous by the very extent of his collection gathered
and arranged to illustrate the Five Points of Calvinism.
By a curious coincidence, hardly undesigned, his book and
its supplement (now known as Denham' s Selection) and the
rival selection of Gadsby with its supplements, attain to an
identical total of 11 38 hymns. It would seem that all
varying tastes among the high Calvinist element thus found
a provision as ample as it has proved permanent.
II. In Scotland
I. His Influence: the "Translations and
Paraphrases" (1745, 1781)
In Scotland W^atts' Psalms and Hymns circulated largely,
and their influence brought about a renewal of the long
shelved movement for what was called "The improvement
of the Psalmody." In 1741 an overture came before the
General Assembly proposing that some Scripture passages
"John Gadsby also published A Companion to Gadsby's Selection of
Hymns and iUustrative Mevioirs of Hymn-writers and compilers (4th
ed., 1870). "The work has now reached its 4th Edition. Had I
written only smooth things, it would probably ere this have reached
its loth," p. 157,
V
J
148 THE ENGLISH HYMN
be turned into metre for use in public worship. This was
the beginning of the movement out of which came the
famous "Scottish Paraphrases." ^'*
The proposal had come at the very close of the session,
and was referred to the Assembly's Commission without
discussion. That probably would have been the end, had
not the Presbytery of Dundee interested itself, and secured
from the Assembly of 1742 the appointment of a committee
to make a collection of paraphrases. This committee ac-
complishing nothing, it was enlarged, and in 1745 presented
a collection of forty-five paraphrases. After much debate
the Assembly agreed so far as to order these printed and
sent down to Presbyteries for their "observations" on them
and on the whole project. ^^ They appeared in July, 1745,
as Translations and Paraphrases of several passages of
Sacred Scripture. Collected and prepared by a Committee
appointed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scot-
land. And by the Act of last Assembly, transmitted to
Presbyteries for their consideration. Edinburgh, printed
by Robert Fleming and Company, Printers to the Church of
Scotland, MDCCXLV.
This pioneer volume of Scottish Presbyterian Hymnody
reveals the extent to which Dr. Watts' influence was
behind the movement toward hymns. Of the forty-five
pieces, no less than nineteen are by him, five are by his
follower Doddridge, and several others are based upon
hymns of Watts. In the Scottish contributions and com-
pilations which make up the remainder, the manner of Watts
is hardly less evident. In both the title and preface of
the volume care is taken to emphasize the purely Scrip-
tural character of the proposed additions to Psalmody, and
the securing of this end furnishes the only obvious justifi-
cation of the system of hymn tinkering which the compilers
''Extracts from the minutes of General Assembly and of Presby-
teries covering the movement are conveniently gathered in Maclagan,
The Scottish Paraphrases, Edinburgh, 1889, pp. 167 ff.
^*Acts of General Assembly. Edinburgh, 1843, p. 681.
"RENOVATION OF PSAL:\I0DY" 149
carried to a great extreme. The paraphrases so printed
had as yet no status, and by refraining from any report
upon them the Presbyteries succeeded in blocking their
authorization. A determined minority kept the matter ahvc
for ten years. It being alleged in 1749 that the confusions
incident to the Jacobite rising had caused the copies of the
Paraphrases in the hands of numerous Presbyteries to be
mislaid, a new edition was printed in 1750, and again sent
down. Perhaps to satisfy the minority, these amended
paraphrases were authorized for private use, and they ob-
tained some unauthorized public use.^*^ But their approval
still awaited the action of Presbyteries. In 1755 it ap-
peared that thirty-two Presbyteries had never yet acted on
the Paraphrases. Such determined opposition seems to have
disheartened the progressives, and while the delinquent
Presbyteries were formally ordered to report to the next
Assembly, the whole project was allowed once more to
drop out of sight as still impracticable.
The agitation of the proposal to enlarge the Psalmody
acted as a constant stimulus to hymn production, and nu-
merous collections of original hymns were published within
the bounds of the Church of Scotland. That of John
Forbes, Some Scriptural Hymns, selected from sundry pas-
sages of Holy Writ, intended for the service of the Church
in secret or society, as may be thought agreeable (x-\berdeen,
1757), plainly presents his productions as candidates for
liturgical use; and hence they are kept wathin the limits
of paraphrase. John Willison, on the other hand, in his
One hundred Gospel Hymns (Edinburgh, 1747), profess-
edly refrains from paraphrasing Scripture, "seeing this
design is under consideration by publick authority, and com-
mitted to hands more capable." He offers freely composed
gospel hymns as "much adapted to Sacramental Occasions" ;
presumably for meditative use, as he could hardly have con-
templated their liturgical employment at that date. Wil-
liam Cruden, in his Hymns on a variety of Divine subjects
""Preface to edition of 1781.
ISO THE ENGLISH HYMN
(Aberdeen, 1761), takes a middle course, which may be
described as a more or less free paraphrasing of Scripture;
hardly presuming to suppose he can contribute to the en-
largement of church Psalmody he so earnestly desires, but
hoping that the use of his hymns in families "may be at-
tended with no impropriety." Cruden's preface is interest-
ing as showing the state of feeling which underlay the
movement for the authorization of paraphrases :
"Several attempts have been made of late years to improve our
Psalmody: and yet when we consider the vast extent of the subject,
its inconceivable importance to mankind, and how delightful a field the
plan of redemption spreads to view; 'tis surprizing that more has
not been done in that way; especially when many subjects, dry and
uninteresting, are every day canvassed, and almost exhausted by the
unwearied efforts of genius. Also when so loud a cry has been raised
of late, thro' many corners of our national church, for the reformation
of our music in the praises of the sanctuary; it might have been
expected that frequent attempts would have been made, to enlarge the
matter of our Psalmody, by an addition of New Testament Hymns
suited to these days of clearer light, and superior advantages vouch-
safed to us above former ages."
It may be presumed that such views and feelings were
gradually extending, but it was not till twenty years had
elapsed from the failure of 1755 that the ParapJirascs were
again brought to the attention of the General Assembly.
In 1775 the Presbytery of Glasgow and Ayr sent up an
overture alleging that many ministers and congregations
desired to employ them in worship, and praying that their
use be authorized. This overture resulted in the appoint-
ment of a committee who entered systematically upon the
compilation of an enlarged collection of paraphrases, and
after some disagreements on their part and the customary
postponements on the part of the Assembly, were able to
present their completed work to the Assembly of 1781, and
to solicit definite action upon it. The Assembly passed an
"Interim act anent the Psalmody," sending down the Para-
phrases to the Presbyteries for examination and report,
"and in the meantime they allow this collection of Sacred
Poems to be used in public worship in congregations where
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 151
the Minister finds it for edification." ^^ The committee was
authorized to correct and pubHsh the collection, and the
exclusive right to print it was vested in James Dickson,
printer to the Church. This act, however lacking in finality,
is the authorization on which the use of the Paraphrases has
ever since rested. Excepting to extend the printer's patent,
the Assembly has at no time taken further action concern-
ing them. It is probable that those who had at heart the
enlargement of the Psalmody, thought it prudent to rest
satisfied with what they had gained. Most of the Presby-
teries also were content to take no action. That of Kirk-
caldy, on the other hand, condemned the collection as de-
fective in execution ; and expressed their unanimous opinion
that it ought to be rejected.^^
The new collection appeared in 1781 as Translations and
Paraphrases, in verse, of several passages of Sacred Scrip-
ture. Collected and prepared by a Committee of the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in order to be sung
in churches. Edinburgh, printed and sold by J. Dickson,
Printer to the Church of Scotland, MDCCLXXXI.
It included the forty-five paraphrases of the earlier
edition, often much revised, and twenty-two that were new;
among the later several of the best-known, such as "Few
are thy days, and full of woe," "Come, let us to the Lord
our God," and "Where high the heavenly temple stands." ^^
Apart from their inherent value, the interest of the Para-
phrases of 1 781 lies in their success. They mark no de-
velopment in the principles of Scottish Psalmody, but they
embody the means by which the earlier authorization of
paraphrases became actually carried out in public worship.
■"Extract from "Act of the Assembly," in 1781 ed. of Paraphrases.
'"Maclagan, op. cit., p. 183.
"'The last of these is one of several regarding which an interminable
controversy as to their authorship has been waged between the parti-
sans of Michael Bruce, a young poet, and of the Rev. John Logan,
one of the Assembly's committee. For a partial bibliography of the
very voluminous controversial literature, see Julian's Diet, of Hym-
nology, p. 189.
152 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In one respect, however, the collection of 1781 registers an
advance. At the end appears a little group of "Hymns."
The preface offers no explanation, saying merely, "a few
Hymns are subjoined." Of these hymns, three are Addi-
son's, first appearing in the Spectator, one is Watts'
("Bless'd morning, whose young dawning rays"), and the
last is probably of Scottish origin ("The hour of my de-
parture's come"). Most of these are decidedly "hymns of
human composure," and constitute an apparently uncon-
sidered intrusion of free Hymnody into the Scriptural Para-
phrases of the Scottish Church.
The use of the Paraphrases being not of obligation, their
introduction into the worship of the parish churches was
by no means universal, and was not always accomplished
without disturbance. Where minister and people were
agreed in wishing the Paraphrases, their introduction in-
volved no more than the protest or perhaps secession of one
or more irreconcilables. At Leith, in 1782, where the Rev.
John Logan, one of the active spirits in the movement, and
the alleged author of a number of the Paraphrases, gave
notice on his own responsibility that the "Additional Psalm-
ody was to be introduced into the public worship, Sabbath
next," ^^ the session met and protested against the precipi-
tant manner of making the change, but seem to have sub-
mitted. There were, however, many among the ministers
and people of the Scottish Church, who never received the
Paraphrases, or took any part in singing them, to the end
of their lives. Although they were soon customarily printed
along with the Metrical Psalms and bound up with them
at the end of the Bibles, from numerous pulpits they were
never announced, and from numerous private copies of the
Bible containing them they were torn out or pasted down.^^
This opposition was partly that of the advocates of the
singing of psalms alone, but by no means altogether. It
was a time of bitter feeling, and, in the minds of many
**Maclagan, op. cit., p. 40.
°'C/. J. S. Curwen, Worship Music, ist series, p. 166.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 153
Evangelicals, the movement for enlarging the Psalmody-
had been allowed to fall into the hands of the party of
"Moderates." The presence in the Assembly's committee
of Logan, and the Blairs, the Wisharts, Gumming, Robert-
son and Alexander Carlyle, made such association inevi-
table in the case of the Paraphrases of 1781. Dr. Martin
of Monimail, one of the minority of the committee, claimed
that he had no proper share in the compilation, and that the
results were not what he was led to expect. ^"^ He may have
been prejudiced by the fact that all but one of his own
compositions, and all those "of a pious lady of his acquaint-
ance" which he fathered, were rejected; but he was one of
many who looked at the Paraphrases as unsound in some
particulars and as lacking generally in evangelical tone and
feeling.
The attitude of the Secession in regard to Church Song
does not appear to have differed greatly from that of the
Church of Scotland. Soon after the secession of 1733, the
attitude of the Burgher portion is revealed by the determina-
tion of the Associate Synod in 1748 to enlarge its Psalmody.
Ralph Erskine had published his Gospel Sonnets in 1726-
1734,^'^ and had become a seceder in 1737. The Synod
recommended him to put the songs of Scripture into metre
for its use, basing its action upon the similar recommenda-
tion of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland of
1647 to Zachary Boyd.^^ A committee was afterwards
appointed to examine Mr. Erskine's work, but his death in
1752 stayed the whole project of enlarging the Psalmody.
The subject did not come up again till 1787, and nothing
was actually done till the Synod in 181 2 authorized the use
of "the Paraphrases and Hymns of the Church of Scot-
"See letter of his grandson in Free Church Magazine, August, 1847.
'^In 1726 as Gospel Canticles; in 1734 as Gospel Sonnets or Spiritual
Songs. It contains little entitling Erskine to rank as a hynni writer.
The early Moravian editors adapted some material from it, and his
"O send me down a draught of love" (taken from a longer piece)
was in the Scottish Presbyterian Hymnal of 1876.
'*See D. Fraser, Life of Erskine, Edinburgh, 1834, p. 508, note.
154 THE ENGLISH HYMN
land." ^^ The anti-Burgher portion of the Secession seems
to have occupied a similar position. Their Solemn Warn-
ing of 1758 does not deal with Psalmody, but their original
position was doubtless that of the manifesto of the General
Associate Synod of 1804, It places the Psalms and New
Testament songs on a common plane of privilege as the
divinely inspired and only authorized Church Song. Its
only protest is against all allegation of a lack of evangelical
spirit in the Psalms, and against substituting for them
"hymns of human composition containing erroneous doc-
trine." i««
While the principles of the Secession favored New Testa-
ment songs, it is probable that the Paraphrases of the
Church of Scotland, which happened to contain the only
New Testament songs practicable, were not employed in
the services of either branch. In this way the Seceders
furnished a refuge for many who came from parishes in
which the Paraphrases were used; but it was only by
further secessions from their own ranks that the principle
of a restricted Psalmody was ultimately maintained.
2. Early Scottish Hymn Singing
Another branch of separated Presbyterians carried for-
ward the process of enlarging the Psalmody in advance of
the Church of Scotland itself. This was the Presbytery of
Relief, formed in 1761, and, until merged in the United
Presbyterian Church in 1847, known as the Relief Church.
Some of these men were not contented to be confined to the
Paraphrases of the mother Church, principally because they
lacked clear evangelical expression. ^°^ James Steuart
showed the way to a new Hymnody, and in 1786 printed at
Glasgow Sacred Songs and Hymns on various passages of
""On this whole subject, see Maclagan, op. cit., pp. 17-19; and also
Mc Crie, The Public Worship of Presbyterian Scotland, Edinburgh,
1892, pp. 196-301.
^'^Narrative and Testimony . . . by the General Associate Synod,
1804, pp. 163, 169.
"'C/. Maclagan, op. cit., p. 28; McCrie, op cit., p. 306.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 155
Scripture; selected for the Congregation at Anderstoun, and
introduced it into the worship of his church. It offended
those of the congregation opposed to "human hymns," some
of whom seceded, but the book was retained. Hutchison of
Paisley adopted Steuart's book with the addition of new
hymns, and still more were added by James Dun of Glas-
gow. The ground being thus prepared, the Synod in 1793
was overtured on the subject, and, after hearing from the
Presbyteries, agreed in 1794 to enlarge the Psalmody not
only by paraphrases of Scripture, but by hymns agreeable
to its tenor. A committee was appointed to select them,
which included Messrs. Steuart, Dun and Hutchison, and
they, doubtless as had been arranged, at once reported,
recommending the book compiled by Steuart and completed
by Dun. The book was approved by Synod, and published
at Glasgow in 1794 with a new title as Sacred Songs and
Hymns on various passages of Scripture, approved by the
Synod of Relief, and recommended to be sung in the Con-
gregations under their inspection. The book contains 231
hymns, "collected from several authors," the hymns of
Watts leading. The preface is frank in its justification of
a New Testament Hymnody, but there is perhaps a certain
lack of candor in its statement that the hymns following
are, when not paraphrases of passages of Scripture, founded
upon individual texts. To justify this statement, each hymn
is preceded by a reference to its Scriptural source; that of
Addison's "When all Thy mercies, O my God," being
Psalm civ, 34, — "My meditation of Him shall be sweet:
I will be glad in the Lord" : that of Cowper's "O for
a closer walk with God" being Genesis v, 24, — "Enoch
walked with God." ^°" The anticipated opposition, whether
or not thus hoodwinked, proved not very serious, and
the new hymn book was soon in use throughout the Relief
Church. ^°^ According to the historian of that Church, the
^"-Cf. McCrie, op. cit., p. 307.
"'It was revised in 1833, and was a progenitor of the Hymn Book
of the United Presbyterian Church, 1852.
156 THE ENGLISH HYMN
new book developed a new animation in the service of
praise, and was followed by "a corresponding improvement
in church nuisic."^*'^
The Relief Church was not the first religious body in
Scotland to make use of free hymns and to introduce a
hymn book into its services. The Glassites, or Sandeman-
ians, while adhering to psalm singing in their public wor-
ship, used in their fellowship meetings the Christian Songs,
whose first edition appeared in 1749 at Edinburgh, and
which we shall notice more fully in another connection. ^^'^
After the Scots Old Independents were founded in 1768
there was an open channel to and fro between their Hym-
nody and that of the Glassites. Many Glassite hymns were
in Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Glasgow, 1781), which
reached a seventh edition in 1798, and in A Selection of
Hymns adapted to public worship (Glasgow, 18 19), which
with changes and additions is still used by this disappearing
sect. The hymn book of these Independents had been
preceded by a publication of Psalms . . . or Hymns
founded on some important passages of Holy Scripture
(Edinburgh, 1777). These were the work of Alexander'
Pirie, a man of parts who found a refuge among the Inde-
pendents after prosecution for heresy in both branches of
the Secession. Eleven of these hymns passed into the
Synod of Relief's book of 1794.^*''^
A little booklet, A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual
Songs (Glasgow, 1755) and the later A Collection of
Hymns for Christian worship (Edinburgh, 1762) and A
Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, extracted from
various authors, and published for the use of Christians of
all denominations (Edinburgh, 1778),^°' all suggest the
"*G. Struthers, History of flic Relief Church, 1843, p. 376.
'"'Under "The Hymnody of the Evangelical Revival."
'""One is still remembered : — "With Mary's love without her fear,"
and all are of the Watts type.
""These early Scottish hymn books the writer has not come upon,
one) of the Rev. James Mearns. See Julian, Dictionary, p. 1026.
and he owes his knowledge of them to the hand (always a careful
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 157
introduction of hymns into some Scottish congregations of
the independent sort. But Congregationalism there had
no hymn book till the appearance at Edinburgh in 1800 of
A Collection of Hymns for the use of the Tabernacles in
Scotland, which continued in use for half a century. It
was nevertheless an inadequate, ill-arranged and injudi-
ciously "tinkered" collection. And, with a view to displace
it in his "Church in Albion Street Chapel, Glasgow, "^'^^
the famous Ralph Wardlaw laboriously prepared A Selec-
tion of Hymns for public zvorship (Glasgow, 1803). An
improvement on the "Tabernacle Collection," and bearing
a distinguished name, it attained much popularity, as evi-
denced by thirteen editions. But here also the hymns were
badly arranged and more than badly "tinkered." Ward-
law's Selection is still referred to as the source of eleven
hymns by himself there appearing, of which "Lift up to
God the voice of praise" and "Christ — of all my hopes the
ground" are widely used.^*^^ The only other Congrega-
tionalist hymn book of the period was A Collection of
Hymns from the best authors, adapted both for public and
family worship. Selected and arranged by Grez'ille Ezving
and George Payne (Glasgow, 1814). This publication w^as
perhaps thought to be expedient after the unpleasantness
that had arisen between the respective Glasgow congrega-
tions under Wardlaw and Ewing,^^*' and it attained to
eleven editions, but except in greater fulness it marked little
advance over Wardlaw^'s Selection.
Baptist hymn singing also had an early beginning in
Scotland. Sir William Sinclair, Bart., composed and printed
for the use of the Baptist church he formed in his castle
of Keiss in Caithness, and of which he was pastor, A Col-
lection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs. By Sir William
Sinclair, Minister of the Gospel of God, and servant of
"'See W. L. Alexander, Memoirs of Ralph Wardlaw, Edinburgh,
1856, pp. 69-71,
'"'All of the hymns are in the Memoirs, appendix C.
^^'^Memoirs, pp. 114 f.
158 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Jesus Christ (1751).'^^ In the same year as the ReHef
collection there appeared A Collection of Christian Songs
and Hymns in three Books (Glasgow, 1786) which by-
change and supplementing became eventually Psalms,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs in three Books, selected for
use in the Scotch Baptist Churches (new impression, en-
larged, Glasgow, 1841). Its very title suggests the con-
tinuing influence of Dr. Watts, but the hymns were selected
from a variety of sources, including the Glassite Christian
Songs, and were subjected to free alteration in the interests
of orthodoxy. The ninth edition (1827) was made notable
by prefixing to each hymn a descriptive epithet, such as
"cheerful," "grave," "plaintive," or even "cheerful & plain-
tive." This was with a view to the selection of a suitable
tune. There were also some foot-notes showing how "this
hymn may be altered to suit a single person." This col-
lection was the standard of Praise in the limited number of
Scottish Baptist churches for two generations.
And no doubt the hymns of John Barclay were sung
in the assemblies of the Bereans, who followed him out
of the Church of Scotland. Barclay thought the singing of
secular songs a great sin, and would confine the singing of
spiritual songs to true believers. Them he would have to
sing at all times, and, inconsistently denying that there was
any distinction between sacred and secular music, composed
for them hymns and paraphrases in a great variety of
metres adapted to the airs of Scottish songs.^^^ The
earliest of these appeared as Rejoice evermore: or Christ
all in all. An original publication consisting of spiritual
songs, collected from the Holy Scriptures; . . . Glasgow:
printed by W. Belt, for the Author. M. DCC. LXXVH.
There followed A Select Collection of new original spiritual
songs, paraphrases, and translations ; together with the
most useful and agreeable of these formerly published
(Edinburgh, 1776); and (beside his metrical version of
"'It was reprinted in 1870. See Julian's Dictionary, p. 1027.
'"Barclay's views are set forth in the preface to Rejoice Evermore.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 159
the Psalms) one other collection, entitled The Experience
and Example of the Lord Jesus Christ illustrated and im-
proved for the consolation of the Church, making a copious
variety of subjects for the purpose of Divine praise (Edin-
burgh, 1783). The whole number of hymns and para-
phrases thus appearing is very large, and must have
responded t-o some welcome from the congregations Barclay
founded. Beyond their bounds, these striking hymns did
not go, and they are unknown to the hymn books.^^''*
Barclay must be relegated to the ranks of unsuccessful
paraphrasers in Scotland, stirred by Watts' example, but not
inspired with like gifts.
But, so far as Presbyterian Scotland is concerned, the
Relief Church was the first to carry . forward the enlarge-
ment of Psalmody to the full freedom of an evangelical
Hymnody, officially embodied in a church hymn book, and
used by authority in public worship.
In the Church of Scotland no further action followed the
ad interim allowance of the Translations and Paraplirascs
in 1 781. The close of the XVIIIth century was a period of
indifference and of that slovenly performance of public
worship pictured in the anonymous A Letter from a Black-
stnitJi to the Ministers and Elders of the Church of Scot-
land. The enlargement of the Psalmody came before the
Assembly again early in the XlXth century, and specimens
of "Additional Psalmody" were submitted in 181 1, 1814
and 1820. The latter were printed as Additional Psalmody;
submitted to the General Assembly, 1820; and printed by
their order, for the inspection of Presbyteries (Edinburgh;
Peter Hill & Company, 1821). Its thirty-two Psalm ver-
sions aim at introducing metrical variety : its seventeen para-
phrases of other Scriptures include "Father, whate'er of
worldly bliss" (I Tim. vi, 6-8), and "Lo! he comes with
clouds descending" (Rev. i, 7). These efforts were quite
futile and deservedly so. And nothing was accomplished
"*Two of Barclay's hymns may be found in Odenheimer and Bird,
Songs of the Spirit, N. Y., 1871.
i6o THE ENGLISH HYMN
until after the middle of the XlXth century, when the
Church came under the general influences that play upon
and mould modern Church Song in all denominations, not-
ably the powerful influences emanating from Oxford.
Meanwhile the Church was left to its historic Psalter of
1650, and the paraphrases and five appended hymns of
1 78 1. The Paraphrases were not only the first, but remain
the only characteristic Hymnody of the Church of Scot-
land. They were of the school of Watts, but the new Scot-
tish writers and a deft editorial hand gave them a marked
individuality. The latest historian of Scottish Literature
has not hesitated to say that they "form incomparably the
best collection of sacred lyrics, for its size, which has ever
been made in the English language." ^^"^ There are few who
would deny to them a dignified restraint, a grave devotion
and a somewhat haunting sonorousness of rhythm. But
they owed their origin to the desire for a distinctively
evangelical Hymnody; and it is not difficult to understand
that they should be regarded by many as somewhat lacking
in contents and somewhat cold in tone.
*"J- H. Millar, Literary History of Scotland, New York, 1903, p. 379.
CHAPTER IV
DR. WATTS' "RENOVATION OF PSALMODY"
(Continued)
IV
HIS SUCCESS : THE ERA OF WATTS IN AMERICA
I. The CONGREGATIONALISTS (1735-1834)
I. The Great Awakening Turns the Churches to
HIS Evangelical ''System of Praise""
When Watts' Hymns of 1707 and his The Psalms of
David imitated of 1719 appeared, the Puritan sense of the
duty of singing psalms prevailed generally in New England,
although "cases of conscience" still kept alive the memory
of the "controversie of Singing." ^ But the total neglect of^
music had compelled the suspension of all singing in some
congregations, and in others had brought about conditions
in Church Praise which the Rev. Mr. Symmes described as
"indecent."^ In the lack of music books and the inability
to sing by note, a very few tunes were sung from memory,
"tortured and twisted as every unskillful throat saw fit,"
producing a medley of discordant noises; something, as
Mr. Walter reports,^ like five hundred different tunes
roared out at the same time," with the singers often
^Cases of conscience about singing of Psalms, Boston, 1723- It is
reprinted in S. H. Emory, The Ministry of Taunton, 2 vols., Boston,
1853. vol. i, pp. 269 ff.
''The Reasonableness of Regular Singing, Boston, 1720.
^The Grounds and Rules of Musick explained, by Thomas Walter,
A.M., Boston, 1721.
161
J
^
162 THE ENGLISH HYMN
one or two words apart, and in a manner so drawling
that he himself has "twice in one note paused to take
breath."
Inconceivable as it seems, this disorder had acquired the
force of a tradition, and the attempt to better it involved
the churches in years of bitter controversy between the
advocates of "the usual way" and those determined to
■sintroduce "regular singing."
Through these confusions the voice of Watts did not
reach the people at all. He none the less had his eye on
New England. Before The Psalms of David imitated was
printed, some were submitted in Ms. to Cotton Mather for
his examination and approval ;■* the 107th Psalm as printed
was entitled "A Psalm for New England": he sent over
copies of all his books, and was, through correspondence
with Colman and others, kept informed of conditions.
Meantime he was content to bide his time, and discouraged
his friends from premature efforts to introduce his System
of Praise.^
The first American reprint of The Psalms imitated came
V from the Philadelphia press of Benjamin Franklin in 1729.
It represents his admiration for Watts rather than any
actual demand, since Franklin two years afterwards com-
plained of its remaining unsold upon his shelves.^ Franklin
published another reprint in 1741; and in the same year
-. appeared the first Boston edition from the press of Rogers
and Fowle.
The first American reprint of the Hymns appeared in
t; Boston, 1739 (J. Draper for D. Henchman) :" the first
*See letter in George Hood, A History of Music in New England,
Boston, 1846, p. 155.
°See his correspondence in Proceedings of the Massachusetts His-
torical Society, 2nd series, vol. ix, especially pp. 397, 401, 408.
°In his "An Apology for Printers" (June 10, 1751) : reprinted in
A. H. Smyth's ed. of Franklin's Writings, N. Y., 1905, &c., vol. ii,
P- 173- Cf. Paul L. Ford, The many-sided Franklin, N. Y., 1899, p.
195. where is a facsimile of the title page of 1729.
'Not in Evans' American Bibliography.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 163
Philadelphia edition in 1742 (Franklin) : the first New
York edition (Hugh Gaine) in 1752.^
Throughout New England it was only as one and an-
other parish first reestablished the old Psalmody on a
musical basis, that any need was felt for more singable
materials than The Bay Psalm Book furnished. Even then
there was no general turning toward Watts. It was rather
in congregations deeply moved by the revival influences of
"The Great Awakening" that the desire arose for song
more in consonance with the revival preaching and more
expressive of the evangelical fervor which the preaching
aroused. The coming of Whitefield and his large share
in the Great Awakening might be presupposed to favor
the introduction of the hymns of the Wesleyan Revival,
with which he had some association in England. But he
was no singing evangelist, and never a propagandist of the
Methodist Hymnody : he preferred a sober strain of song,
and greatly admired Watts' Psalms and Hymns.
At Northampton itself Jonathan Edwards, returning
from a journey, found that the congregation had begun to
sing Watts' Hymns in his absence ; "and sang nothing else,
and neglected the Psalms wholly." He "disliked not their
making some use of the Hymns; but did not like their set-
ting aside the Psalms," and compromised by arranging that
when they sang "three times upon the Sabbath," they
should sing "an Hymn, or part of a Hymn of Dr. Watts',
the last time, vis: at the conclusion of afternoon exercise."^
This was in 1742, and shows how with the spread of
*The early American reprints of WaUs may be grouped as follows :
Psalms alone: Philadelphia, 1729, 1741, 1753, 1757, 1760, 1766, 1773.
Boston, 1741, 1743, 1761, 1763, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1770, 1771, 1772 (2),
^773 (2). New York, 1754, 1756, 1760, 1761, 1772. Woodbridge, 1760.
Portsmouth, 1762. Norwich, 1773, 1774.
Hymns alone: Boston, 1739, 1743, 1769, 1771, 1772 (2), 1775. Phila-
delphia, 1742, 1767, 1771, 1772. New York, 1752, 1771. Norwich, 1775.
Psalms and Hymns together (earlier issues were sometimes bound
together) : New York, 1761. Boston, 1767, 1773. Philadelphia, 1778.
'Letter of Edwards in Proceedings of Mass. Hist. Sac, 2nd series,
vol. X, p. 429.
i64 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the revival the people began to sing from Watts with a
certain spontaneity in which sincerity counted for more
than precedent. The singing was not confined to the meet-
ings. John White reports^^ that at Gloucester in 1744 the
singing of Watts' Hymns had taken the place of the usual
diversions of the people when met together. A new phe-
nomenon was the "singing through the streets, and in
Ferry-Boats" by companies of people coming or going be-
tween the meetings. To this Chauncy objected as "osten-
tatious."^^ Gilbert Tennent, in a letter in The Pennsylvania
Gazette, refused to defend it :^^ Jonathan Edwards on the
other hand failed to find any valid objection against it.^^
Edwards thought "abounding in singing," both in and out
of meeting, a natural expression of the feelings awakened.^'*
The disorderly singing in meeting, and the careless singing
of sacred words at home,^^ he liked no better than
Chauncy.^" To the objection taken by many to the "mak-
ing use of Hymns of humane Composure," Edwards re-
sponded in terms as decided as those of Watts himself. ^^
In parishes which kept to the old Psalmody through the
Revival period, the introduction of either the Imitations or
Hymns of Watts involved difficulties. Apart from the
prejudice of many against hymns^^ and their afifection for
The Bay Psalm Book, the free character of Watts' Imita-
tions and his omission of several Psalms^^ told against it.
There was also a preference of many others, especially
^"The Christian History, Boston, vol. i, 1743, p. 41.
"Seasonable Thoughts on the state of Religion in New England,
Boston, 1743, p. 126.
'^Reprinted in his The Examiner, examined, or Gilbert Tennent
harmonious, Phila., 1743, pp. 64-66.
^^Some Thoughts concerning the present Revival of Religion in
New-England, Boston, 1742, pp. 317-323.
"Some Thoughts, p. 182.
'^Ibid., p. 316.
^^Seasonable Thoughts, p. 239.
"Some Thoughts,- p. 184.
"Cf. Proc. of Mass. Hist. Soc, 2nd series, vol. ix, pp. 401, 408.
'*Ibid., p. 369.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 165
the "liberal"-minded, for the smooth renderings of Tate and
Brady.2«
The parish of Spencer, Mass., affords an illustration of
the actual situation. After making trial for some time of
Tate and Brady, the church met in June, 1761, and decided
to restore The Bay Psalm Book for four Sabbaths, then to
use Watts' Imitations till September, and finally meet for
decision. At the meeting the vote stood, for The Bay Psalm
Book, 33; for Watts, 14; for Tate and Brady, 6. It was
agreed to refer the matter to three ministers, who recom-
mended a trial of Tate and Brady for six months. After
eight years adherence to The Bay Psahn Book, it was voted
in May, 1769, to make the trial of Tate and Brady as
recommended. There was a dissatisfied minority, and it
was agreed to use The Bay Psalm Book and Watts jointly
"till the church and congregation shall come to a better un-
derstanding as to what version may be sung." This arrange-
ment continued until October, 1769, when it was agreed
to adopt Watts' Psalms and Hymns, by a vote of 26 in
his favor, and "about 6 votes for the old version."^^ Even
so Spencer was years ahead of very many New England
parishes.
A number of churches followed the lead of the Brattle
Street Church, to which we shall more particularly refer, in
adopting Tate and Brady, supplemented by a selection of
hymns taken mostly from Watts: Worcester in 1761,^^
Newton in 1770,^^ Charlestown in 1772,^^ Westminster in
^yy^2^ The Old South of Boston balked at the freedom of
Watts' Imitations, and requested Thomas Prince to make a
revision of The Bay Psalm Book, to which, as published and
introduced in 1758, was added an appendix of fifty hymns,
""Ibid., p. 369.
"Jas. Draper, History of Spencer, Massachusetts, Worcester, 2nd
ed., n. d., pp. no, iii.
"W. Lincoln, Hist, of Worcester, 1837, p. 179.
"F. Jackson, Hist, of Newton, 1854, p. 136.
^*Memorial Hist, of Boston, vol. ii, p. 319.
"'W. S. Haywood, Hist, of Westminster, 1893, p. 282.
i66 THE ENGLISH HYMN
all but eight of which are from Watts. ^"^ On the other hand
the Imitations, without the Hymns, were adopted by the
South Church at Portsmouth, N. H., as early as 1763;-^
and in 1769 Byfield voted to "make trial" of both.^^
The parishes were thus feeling their way and of many
minds. The use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns did not be-
come general throughout New England Congregationalism
until after the Revolution. They were introduced at the
Old South in Boston in 1786: in 1790 at Worcester-'^ and
Newton :^^ in 1791 at Shrewsbury.^ ^ To make the Imita-
tions palatable at that epoch to the newly won liberties of
America, some changes were necessary in those passages in
which Watts had made David appear as a patriotic English-
man. Outside of Connecticut these changes were made
without common action of the churches, under the auspices
of private printers.
Connecticut, which had its distinctive church government,
took also a distinctive attitude toward Watts. In the first
place its adoption of his System of Praise included only
the Imitations. In the second place, the Connecticut Asso-
ciation superintended two revisions of their text, with a
view of "accommodating it to America" and also of filling
out the omitted Psalms. The earlier of these^^ appeared at
™The Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs of the Old and New
Testament, . . . being the New England Psalm Book revised and im-
proved . . . with an addition of fifty other Hymns . . . Boston: N.E.,
1758^ 2nd ed., 1773.
"C. W. Brewster, Rambles about Portsmouth, 2nd series, 1869, p.
338.
'^Joshua Coffin, Sketch of Hist, of Newbury, &c., 1845, p. 235.
"Lincoln, p. 179.
'"Jackson, p. 141.
"A. H. Ward, History of Shrewsbury, 1847, P- I79-
''The history of these various adaptations of Watts' Psalms to
American conditions is an interesting and distinctive episode in the
progress of American Church Song. But in spirit and intent they
were a prolongation of the older Psalmody, to whose history a fuller
account of them may be relegated. The writer has attempted such an
account in "The American Revisions of Watts's Psalms" in The Jour-
nal of The Presbyterian Historical Society, for June and Sept., 1903.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 167
Hartford in 1785 as Doctor Wafts's Imitation of the Psalms
of David, corrected and enlarged by Joel Barlow. To zvhich
is added a Collection of Hymns; the whole applied to the
state of the Christian Church in general. Hartford: printed
by Barlow and Babcock. M, DCC, LXXXV. The later
was made with the concurrence of the Presbyterian General
Assembly, and appeared at Hartford in 1801 as The Psalms
of David . . . by I. Watts, D.D. A new edition, in which
the Psalms, omitted by Dr. Watts, are versified, local pas-
sages are altered, and a number of Psalms are versified
anew, in proper metres. By Timothy Dwight, D.D., Presi-
dent of Yale College. At the request of The General Asso-
ciation of Connecticut. To the Psalms is added a Selection
of Hymns: Hartford: printed by Hudson and Goodwin.
1801.^^ In the third place, the Connecticut Association,
while proposing to retain The Psalms imitated as the main
feature of Church Praise, provided at each revision its
own collection of hymns (in the stead of Watts' Hymns)
as an appendix to the Psalms. The hymns appended to
Barlow's revision numbered 70, selected from Watts, with
a few originals added. Like the revision itself, they were
set aside when Barlow's name became discredited in Con-
necticut. Dwight, between his own preference for a large
collection and that of a number of his advisers for a small
one,^^ compromised on an appendix of 263 hymns. Of
these 168 were from Watts, 95 by other writers, mostly of
Watts' school. "Dwight's Watts" was received with great
favour and used in Connecticut churches, perhaps without
an exception; and in some was retained for over thirty
years. ^^
Dwight's book was not interfered with by The Hartford
Selection of Hymns, 1799, edited by Nathan Strong, Abel
"In this appeared the familiar "I love Thy Kingdom, Lord," as a
rendering of the 137th Psalm.
"See his preface of 1800.
"C/. O. E. Daggett, "The Psalms in Worship," The New Eng-
lander, July, 1846, p. 328.
i68 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Flint, and Joseph Steward. This reached an eighth edition
in 1 82 1, but was especially designed for use in connection
with revival services. Some pastors were, however, finding
Dwight's selection of hymns too limited. He had spoken in
his preface of the "so great reverence" for Watts in this
country at that time. Of this, Samuel Worcester of Salem,
warmly interested in Church Song, was made painfully
aware. He thought room could be made for the new hymns
desired and for a selection of tunes in one volume with
Watts' Psalms and Hymns by the process of dropping some
of the less used psalms and hymns and shortening the longer
ones. A volume so made up he published at Boston in
181 5 as Christian Psalmody, in four parts; comprising Dr.
Watts' s Psalms abridged; Dr. Watts' s Hymns abridged;
select Hymns from other authors; and select Harmony.
The churches resented this mode of dealing with Watts,
and the book was met by charges of "mangling," "ampu-
tating," and "robbing" Watts, and by calls for "Watts
entire."^*^ In view of this prejudice and demand and the
solicitation of his publisher, Worcester abandoned his Chris-
tian Psalmody, enlarged the selection of hymns it contained,
and, against his own taste and judgment, appended them
to the complete Psalms and Hymns of Watts. The new
collection appeared at Boston in 1819 as The Psalnis,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D.,
to which are added select Hymns from other authors; and
directions for musical expression. By Samuel Worcester,
D.D. It was revised in 1823, and again in 1834 by his son,
and came into wide use throughout New England and even
beyond it. Familiarly known as "Watts and Select," it
became one of the best recognized channels of Watts'
ascendency over Church Song, and so continued as long as
the churches were disposed to regard the ever widening area
of English Hymnody in the light of an appendage to Watts'
Psalms and Hymns.
""S. M. Worcester, Life of Rev. Samuel Worcester, Boston, 1852,
vol. ii, p. 267.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 169
2. An American School of Church Music
The transition from the older Psalmody to Watts in New
England became associated with a great change in the
character of the tunes used in the churches. The formation
of singing societies and choirs led to a desire for tunes less
simple than the accustomed settings of the older psalm
tunes, and in greater variety. Reprints appeared at Boston
and Newburyport of recent English tune books by William
Tans'ur and Aaron Williams, and became very popular ; and
a group of native composers began to introduce com-
positions of their own into the tune books and choirs. The
most notable of these and the most influential in effecting
the change was an eccentric but gifted tanner's apprentice
of Boston, William Billings, who had printed in 1770 his
first book of original compositions, as The New-England
Psalm-Singer: or, American Chorister, containing a number
of Psalm-tunes, Anthems and Canons. In four or five parts.
[Never before published.] Composed by William Billings,
a native of Boston, in New England (Boston, Edes and
Gill) . The book proved acceptable to New England singing
schools. During the war Billings wrote or adapted patriotic
psalms, and set them to stirring melodies of his own com-
position. His original "Let tyrants shake their iron rod,"
to his tune "Chester," and his "Lamentation over Boston,"
beginning "By the Rivers of Watertown we sat down and
wept," are now best remembered.*^" The words stirred
the patriotic heart, and with their striking melodies were
sung at home and by the choirs, and especially in the mili-
tary camps. The New England soldiers learned the words
by heart, and every fifer the tunes, and carried them to
whatever part of the country duty called them.
In 1778 Billings published at Boston The Singing Mas-
ters Assistant, or Key to practical Music. Its tunes of
lively rhythm and captivating melody, with much inde-
"Words and music may be found in his The Singing Master's
Assistant, 1778; the former as No. 12, the latter as No. 33.
lyo THE ENGLISH HYMN
pendence of movement in the various voice-parts and some
unexpected harmonic results, proved very popular with
singing schools and church choirs, and drove out the slower
and more solemn psalm-tunes. Billings established a dis-
tinctively American school of church music,^^ carried on
by Jacob Kimball, Oliver Holden,^^ Daniel Reed,^*^ Timothy
Swan,^^ and others, who were his followers; and it domi-
nated Congregational Song in New England for many
years.
The new music, while tickling the senses, lacked the
reverence and spiritual feeling of the old. But the close of
the Revolution was particularly distinguished for the
absence of just those qualities; and the swing and virility
of the new tunes suited the occasion, while the exciting
contests of the voice-parts gave welcome occupation to the
singing schools and the new choirs.
The reader of The Diary of William Bentlcy, D.D.,
Pastor of the East Church, Salem, Massachusetts,'^^ cover-
ing 1 784-1802, can follow the agitated efforts to improve
the Psalmody in a parish where the minister was bent on
bettering the singing, the visits of successive "professors,"
the fortunes of a parochial singing-school, thought by some
'*The personality and work of this one-eyed, illtaught, and en-
thusiastic natural genius, form an engaging theme, from whatever
view-point it be approached. The only adequate materials for study-
ing him are the music, treatises, prefaces, &c., contained in the series
of his tune books. The most satisfactory approaches to the musical
side of his work are found in Dr. F. R. Ritter's Music in America,
new. ed.. New York, 1890, chap, iii; and Louis C. Elson's The History
of American Music, New York, 1904, chap. i. Something of the
human side appears in George P. Upton's Musical Pastels, Chicago,
1902, in a sketch of him, wrongly entitled "The first American Com-
poser." It is now well established that both Hopkinson and Lyon were
his predecessors (see O. G. Sonneck, Francis Hopkinson and James
Lyon, Washington, 1905) ; though the fact abates nothing of Billings'
original force.
^'Composer of "Coronation."
"Composer of "Lisbon" and "Windham."
"Composer of "China."
**Salem, Mass., 1905, 1907.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 171
to encourage immorality, the introduction of instrumental
music ;^^ and he will find also a brief outline of the history
of New England Psalmody.'**
The new style of church music did not spread over New
England without considerable protest. Andrew Law of
Connecticut, one of the most successful "Professors of
Psalmody" contemporaneous with Billings, resisted his in-
fluence from the first, and in his numerous books of instruc-
tion and of tunes aimed to avoid the seductive "fuguing
tunes." By the beginning of the XlXth century the protest
against the new music became more pronounced. The
Middlesex Musical Society voiced the opposition in the
preface to its Middlesex Collection of Church Music: or,
Ancient Psalmody revived (Boston, 1807) :
"The spirit and flavor of old wine are always depressed by the
commixture of new. . . . The principal design of [this work] is, to form
and improve a taste for music, well adapted to promote religion and
piety. . . . Patronage and co-operation are earnestly solicited, from all
those in the community, who are well disposed to the public institutions
of religion, and desirous that the singing in our solemn assemblies
may be performed 'with the spirit and with the understanding.' And
it is hoped the time is not far distant, when none will have the temerity
to advocate or countenance profaning the house of the Lord, by offer-
ing a Babel confusion of tongues, as an act of homage in divine
worship."
This reads like a retort to the preface of The First
Church Collection of sacred musick of the previous year :
"In the knowledge and practice of sacred musick, as might justly
be expected, the psalmodists of the elder continent are vastly superior
to those of America. But is this fact a sufficient reason for the total
disuse of American musick? . . . Instead therefore of ridiculing the
productions of our age and country, and indiscriminately condemning
to oblivion the incipient efforts of the American composer, let us.
while we reject his worst, commend his best; and, by using them
alternately with the labours of able masters, form him to a riper
judgment and a purer taste ... In the exercise therefore of that
charity, which teaches us not to please ourselves merely, but our
christian brethren also, with a view to their edification, we humbly
commit our endeavours to their use."
*' "There is now no ground of complaint against the catholics."
"Vol. ii, p. 371.
172 THE ENGLISH HYMN
We thus get the atmosphere of the controversy which
helped to clear the air, and which, together with the spread
of better musical knowledge and taste, eventually prepared
the way for the Lowell Mason epoch in American church
music.
It is likely that the most voluminous of the composers
of this period, Samuel Holyoke of Massachusetts, counted
himself a reformer, and that he regarded The Columbian
Repository of sacred harmony (Exeter, N. H., n. d.),
published in the first decade of the XlXth century, as
adapted to forward the reaction from the extremes of the
Billings school. Whether it was so or not, his book remains
as a colossal monument of the ascendency of Watts over
the congregational praise of New England. This folio
volume of 496 pages contains nothing less than a complete
reprint of Watts' Psalms of David imitatcd^^ and his Hymns
and Spiritual Songs, with every Psalm version and hymn
set to its special tune in four parts. As an offering to New
England choirs, unable to read at sight or to use so great
a variety of music, it was ineffective from the first ; but as
a New England tribute to Dr. Watts its testimony remains
unimpaired.
The closing pages of Holyoke's book are occupied by a
"Supplement" of tunes "suited to Metres in Dr. Belknap's
and Tate & Brady's Psalms and Hymns, which are not in
Dr. Watts'." This supplement serves to remind us that a
dissenting type of Congregationalist Hymnody had already
risen in New England, which now demands consideration.
3. The Liberals Compile "Non-Trinitarian" Hymn
Books (1753-1823)
The church at Brattle Square, Boston, had been the first
"Holyoke seems to have taken as his text of The Psalms imitated an
Americanized version first printed by Isaiah Thomas at Worcester in
1786, and characterized by its omission of the C. M. Version of Psalm
21.
^'RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 173
to break away from the fixed order of New England Con-
gregationalism. Though regarded as radical, it was or-
ganized upon the basis of the Westminster Confession, and
in the matter of Church Praise was most conservative.
When Thomas Brattle, whose will was probated May 23,
1 713, bequeathed his organ to the church, the congregation
voted that they did not think it proper to use the same in
the public worship of God.'**' To the efforts of its pastor,
Benjamin Colman, Watts attributed the introduction of his
Imitations into several New England parishes.^" In 1739
Colman got his church to vote for a collection of hymns to
be selected from Watts, but found that even the attempt to
use a new version of the Psalms so endangered the peace
of the church that he decided to leave things as they were."*^
Nevertheless the Brattle Street Church, after Colman's
death, led the way in hymn singing among Boston churches,
adopting in 1753 Tate and Brady with an appendix of
hymns to be selected by a committee. ^^ This appeared in /
1754 as Appendix, containing a number of Hymns, taken
chiefly from Dr. Watts's Scriptural Collection, and was
enlarged from time to time to include 103 hymns.^*^ Tate
and Brady with this appendix, and sometimes with D.
Bayley's Essex Harmony or his Psalm Singer's Assistant,
bound in, appeared often in the next half century, and be-
came the means of introducing hymns of Watts into a num-
ber of parishes.
The installation of Jonathan Mayhew over the West
Church in 1747 was the first definite recognition of the
"S. K. Lothrop, History of Brattle-Street Church, Boston, 1851, pp.
61, 62: more fully in "The first Organ in America," Nezv England
Magazine, Oct., 1902, pp. 212 ff.
"Proc. of Mass. Hist. Soc, 2nd series, vol. ix, pp. 365, 397.
*'Ibid., p. 365.
^''See preface to "Brattle Square Collection," 1825.
■"The hymns numbered 77-100 in the Appendix to Tate and Brady
published by S. Kneeland, Boston, 1760, were an addition to the
Brattle Street Appendix made by Mather Byles for the HoUis Street
Church.
174 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Arian opinions and tendencies which had crossed over from
Enghsh Presbyterianism ; and by the last quarter of the
century nearly all the Congregationalist pulpits in and near
Boston were filled by Unitarians. •'^^
Mayhew found Tate and Brady in use at the West
Church, and asked for no change during his life, though
a choir took the place of the precentor about 1754.'^^ No
hymns were sung in the West Church till the appearance in
1783 oi A Collection of Hymns, more particularly designed
for the use of the West Society in Boston, (2nd ed. 1803;
3rd, 1806) .^^ Its opening hymns were entitled "Toleration"
and "Persecution," but it contained also hymns on "Jesus,
worshipped by all the Creation," "The Atonement of
Christ," and "Christ's Propitiation improv'd." William
Bentley of the East Church, Salem, already an avowed
Unitarian,^* followed with A Colection of Hymns for pub-
lick worship (Salem, n. d. but 1788),''^^ which reached a
third edition, and was used in the East Church until 1842.^^
Its only interest lies in the selection, at so early a date, of
the Salisbury Collection of 1778 as the source of nearly all
its hymns. Six years later Jeremy Belknap "performed a
very important service for the non-Trinitarian churches"®^
by publishing Sacred Poetry. Consisting of Psalms and
Hymns, adapted to Christian derotion, in public and private.
Selected from the best authors, with ivriations and addi-
tions (Boston, 1795). This important (it has been called
"Cf. A. P. Peabody in The Memorial History of Boston, vol. iii, pp.
467 ff.
"^Chas. Lowell, Discourse in the West Cliurch, Boston, 1820, p. 26.
"^Bentley says it was edited by Dr. Howard. See his Diary, vol. ii,
P- 371.
''Ibid., vol. i, p. 98.
"In the "Bibliography" of the Diary, vol. i, p. xxxvii, it is dated
1789, but came from the printer in November, 1788 (vol. i, p. 109).
The writer's copy was "The Gift of Rev. Mr. Bentley, 1789." For an
interesting defence of the theology of his Collection, made to his
father, see Diary, vol. i, p. 114.
^Diary, vol. i, p. xiii.
"Dr. Peabody in Memorial History of Boston, vol. iii, p. 473.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 175
"famous")^* book has been described by Dr. Peabody^^ "as
an index of the reh'gious behef and feehng of the churches
that welcomed its advent." If so, it would be easy to show
that the churches held all the cardinal doctrines of Calvin-
ism. But Belknap's own curious point of view is thus
revealed in his preface :
"In this selection those Christians, who do not scruple to sing
praise to their Redeemer and Sanctifier, will find materials for such a
sublime enjoyment; whilst others whose tenderness of conscience may
oblige them to confine their addresses, to the Father only will find no
deficiency of matter suited to their idea of 'the chaste and awful spirit
of devotion.' " ""
Belknap's book won great favor, and continued to satisfy
a considerable proportion of the "non-Trinitarian churches"
through and beyond the first quarter of the XlXth cen-
tury.^ ^ Freeman's A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for
publick worship (Boston, 1799: 2nd ed., 1813), for King's
Chapel, was made from its American predecessors just
referred to, the English books from the Liverpool Collec-
tion of 1763 to Enfield's of 1795, and Tate and Brady. In
1808, the year of Henry Ware's election as Hollis Professor
at Harvard, the Brattle Street Church annexed to its col-
lection Hymns for public worship. Part ii; whose exclusion
of "most of the capital doctrines of the gospel" was at once
challenged by TJie Panoplist.^" From the Panoplist's point
of view William Emerson's A Collection of Psalms and
Hymns (Boston, 1808), was even more open to the same
charge. His book was ineffective, but interesting for an
attempt to refine and enrich "Columbian musick" by "pre-
fixing to each psalm and hymn the name of a tune, well
°'By Dr. S. A. Eliot, in Heralds of a Liberal Faith, Boston, 1910,
vol. i, p. 103.
^"ut supra.
°°In Watts' familiar line "Save in the death of Christ my God,"
Belknap's only alteration was the substitution of "But" for "Save."
"2nd ed., 1797; 3rd, 1801 ; 4th, 1804; 5th, 1808; new. ed., 1812, often
reprinted.
"See the review in the number for Sept. 1808; the reply of "Brattle
Street" and editorial comments thereon in the Nov. number.
176 THE ENGLISH HYMN
composed and judicially chosen" as "a valuable auxiliary
to musical bands."
To Philadelphia Unitarianism came directly from Eng-
land with Dr. Priestley; and in 1812 Ralph Eddowes and
James Taylor, who had charge of the little congregation
Priestley founded, published A Selection of sacred Poetry,
consisting of Psalms and Hymns from Watts, Doddridge,
Merrick, Scott, Cowper, Barhauld, Steele, and others.^^
Eddowes had already published a tract on The inconsistency
of several passages in Doctor Watts's Hymns zvith Scrip-
ture and with each other.^'^ But, the inexpediency of using
"Watts entire" being thus demonstrated, Eddowes drew
freely from him and other evangelical sources, and in his
collection of 606 hymns aimed not unsuccessfully to avoid
offence to the orthodox bodies that enveloped his little con-
gregation.
Little account of the Philadelphia book was taken in New
England, although the situation there was regarded as un-
satisfactory. It was becoming a matter of reproach that
numerous churches, though now enrolled on the "liberal"
side, persisted in using Watts' Psalms and Hymns, to which
they had formerly become attached.*^ '"* And not less so that
of all the books aiming to supersede Watts or Psalm ver-
sions, the "only collection now in common use" was Belk-
nap's with "its unnatural combination of eager Arianism
and half-willing Orthodoxy. "*^'^ Two books were prepared
with a view of meeting this situation. The earlier was
Henry F. Sewall's A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, for
social and private worship (N. Y. 1820; 2nd ed., 1827).
This urbane expression of "a calm and rational faith" was
favorably regarded by Boston periodicals,^''^ but failed of
adoption by New England churches. It retains, however,
"2nd ed., 1818; 3rd, 1828; 4th, 1846.
®*Included in A Coll. of Pieces and Tracts pub. by the First Unitarian
Society, Phila., 1810.
"r/ie Christian Disciple, vol. iii, 1821, p. 341.
^^Ibid., pp. 76, 362.
*'E. g. The Christian Disciple for 1821, pp. 76, 360-369.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 177
the distinction of introducing five originals of William Cul-
len Bryant. The other book had a nearly similar title, A
Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for social and private
worship (Andover, 1821 ; 2nd ed., Cambridge, 1824; nth
ed., Boston, 1832). It was compiled by J. P. Dabney, with
an eye for practical considerations : being smaller, cheaper,
better arranged, and with less tinkering of familiar texts,
than Sewall's. It came into very considerable, though far
from universal, use in the churches. We may perhaps re-
gard these two books, and the new West Church Collection
of 1823, as closing the earlier series of liberal or Unitarian
hymn books ; to be followed in turn by the remarkable series
of a more "literary" type that distinguished the mid-century.
The books of this early period are characterized by their
omissions rather than their inclusions, as being the work
of men (except perhaps Freeman), who "had not made up
their own minds" "on the subject of the nature and offices
of Jesus. "^^ Meantime they avoided the area "still con-
troverted among Christians" (Sewall), and "what savors of
party spirit and sectarian notions" (Emerson). This meant
practically to alter or omit the older hymns of evangelical
implication and to multiply hymns confined to "the natural
or universal aspects of religion." It resulted, except in the
case of Belknap's anomalous book, in a marked coldness of
tone as contrasted with Watts'. Belknap, Emerson, Ed-
dowes and Sewall avowedly aim to adapt their books to
"Christians in general." Dabney is the only one who rec-
ognizes that his "cannot meet with very general acceptance."
II. The Presbyterians (i 739-1827)
I. "New Side" Churches Venture to Sing Watts'
"Imitations"
The Presbyterian Church of the colonies was by its varied
inheritance and its own practice a psalm singing Church.
""Ralph Waldo Emerson, in Sprague, Annals of the American Uni-
tarian Pulpit, New York, 1865, p. 245.
178 THE ENGLISH HYMN
It cannot, however, be claimed that an exclusively Scriptural
Psalmody was made a church principle, since the Adopting
Act of 1729 failed to include the Westminster Directory for
Worship as a part of its written constitution. Neither was
there any special psalm book in prescribed or even general
use. But the hold of the Scottish type of Psalmody was
materially strengthened by the great volume of immigration
from the North of Ireland. The Scotch-Irish brought with
them The Psalms of David in meeter bound in with their
Bibles, and to their minds almost a part of it. They had
been accustomed to a Scriptural Psalmody as of course :
few of them knew any psalm book but their own : and they
were not of the temper that is personally concerned with
the literary or musical development of Church Song.
Thus reinforced, the whole lump of Presbyterianism be-
came more impervious than some other Churches were to
the leaven of Watts' influence. Indeed, the Scotch-Irish
gift for colonization tended to remove whole sections of
the Church beyond contact with that influence. It carried
large numbers away from the established centres of civiliza-
tion, and segregated them in frontier settlements, where
their own ways were unquestioned and their minds became
incurious. And so it could happen, that, when in 1763 the
reunited Synod of New York and Philadelphia was ques-
tioned as to whether churches were at liberty "to sing Dr.
Watts's imitation of David's Psalms," the Synod was not
prepared to give a full answer, "as a great number of this
body have never particularly considered Dr. Watts's imi-
tation."^^
There was, on the other hand, within the Church an
aggressive element, Scotch and Scotch-Irish, well informed
as to Watts' work and influence, and fully prepared to resist
it. And just beyond the Church's borders a number of
small bodies were forming, who represented one or other
type of Scottish dissent ; unalterably set in principle on the
strictest platform of psalm singing, and in practice con-
^^Records of the Presbyterian Church, ed. 1904, p. 331.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 179
fined to "Rons' Version." Neither their principles nor in-
terest called them to quench the embers of strife in the
larger body or to refuse a refuge to the disaffected.
Under these circumstances it was inevitable that Presby-
terian hymn singing should be deferred, and that its intro-
duction should involve controversy. There was indeed no
general desire to sing hymns among Colonial Presbyterians.
The progressives asked no more than liberty to choose their
own psalm book; and it was not till the beginning of the
XlXth century that the Church formally authorized the use
of any designated hymn book.
The first influence that modified the uniformity of the
old Psalmody, among Presbyterians as among Congrega-
tionalists, was the quickened evangelical fervor aroused by
the Great Awakening; which revival became indeed the oc-
casion of splitting the Church itself in 1741 into "New Side"
and "Old Side" synods.
This influence is nowhere more clearly brought out than
in the apologia of the Trustees of the Church in New York
for the change in their congregational Psalmody -^^
"That during the times of the Revival of Religion in the years 1739,
17-10 and 1741 when God said to this church, arise, shine for thy light
is come, &c., there was a vast accession of people to this Light and
to the brightness of this churches rising; in that period the poetick
writings particularly the Hymns of the sweet singer of our Israel
became of excellent service and for the divine relish which in the
use of them had affected many minds. During that remarkable season,
many of the people became desirous of introducing some one of the
New Versions of the Psalms, into the stated publick worship of the
congregation ; and from their knowledge and experience of their
suitableness to animate and raise their own devotion, hoping this might
produce the same effect on others. After this matter had been some
years under consideration and by the private use of the New Version,
the old Version had become every day to the Taste of many more
and more flat, dull, insipid and undevotional . . . and it had been
judged that no objection could arise against introducing Doctor Watts
version but from ignorance of the difference between the old version
and that, or from some unreasonable prejudice, the ministers, elders,
deacons and trustees with the approbation of the principal part of the
'"Ms. Journal, quoted in Briggs, American Prcsbytcrianism, New
York, 1885, pp. 280, 281.
V
i8o THE ENGLISH HYMN
congregation, . . . desired that, that version might be proposed to the
congregation to be introduced in a months time unless sufficient reason
to the contrary should be signified to Mr. Pemberton in the mean
time."
The minority at once organized as a Scotch Presbyterian
Society, and complained to Presbytery, which body referred
the matter to the (New Side) Synod of New York. Synod
in 1752 appointed a committee to adjust the difficulties,
with power to authorize the use of Watts' Imitations, and
a larger committee in 1753. In 1754 Synod adopted the
findings of this committee objecting to certain proceedings,
but deciding that "since Dr. Watts's version is introduced
in this church, and is well adapted for Christian worship,
and received by many Presbyterian congregations, both in
America and Great Britain, they cannot but judge it best
for the well-being of the congregation under their present
circumstances, that they should be continued."^ ^ The dis-
turbance in New York continuing, the Synod of 1755
directed "that the Scotch version be used equally with the
other,"^^ This direction was not obeyed. The Synod of
1756 rebuked the majority for their adherence to Watts,
but also revoked their order of the previous year; thus
leaving Wattts' Imitations in sole possession of the field.^^
The offended minority withdrew from the New York
church to form "The Scotch Church," which was taken
under the care of the Associate Presbytery, representing
one of the secessions from the Church of Scotland.
The introduction of the "new version" into churches
newly established involved less difficulty. That at New-
buryport, organized by Whitefield's supporters in 1746, used
Watts' Imitations from the beginning; and they were
recommended by the Presbytery of Boston as "well adapted
to the New Testament Church. "'^^ Newburyport and its
''^Records, p. 260.
'"'Ibid., p. 267.
^^Ibid., p. 275.
'"H. C. Hovey, Origin and Annals of "The Old South" in New-
buryport, Boston, 1896, p. 53.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" i8i
Presbytery were independent, but the process of church
extension under the New Side Synod of New York
developed some similar situations. Samuel Davies, whom
the Presbytery of New Castle ordained for missionary work
in Virginia, introduced there not only The Psahns imitated
but even the Hymns of Watts. Two of the former were
sung at the installation of John Todd over a Hanover
congregation on November 12, 1752, and printed in full in
connection with Davies' Installation sermon. '^^ In 1755 he
wrote from Hanover that Watts' Psalms and Hymns were
"the system of psalmody the Dissenters use in these parts,"
and in the same year made requisition upon the London
Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge for "a good
number" of the Psalms and Hymns for the use of his black
people. He had found there are no books they learn so
soon or take such pleasure in, as they have "a kind of
ecstatic delight in psalmody.""^ Davies' use of the Hymns
was independent and exceptional at that date; and in con-
nection with the writing and publication of hymns of his
own composition, makes him a pioneer of Hymnody in the
American Presbyterian Church.
After Davies' departure for Princeton John Todd "was
called to wear his mantle" ; and when a petition was pre-
sented to the recently formed Presbytery of Hanover,
"desiring their opinion, whether Dr. Watts's psalmody
might with safety be used in the churches," Todd delivered
by invitation of that body a trenchant defence of "Gospel
Songs" and of the use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns as
"the best now extant" : — An humble attempt tozvards the
improvement of Psalmody: The propriety, necessity and
use, of Evangelical Psalms, in Christian worship. Delivered
at a meeting of the Presbytery of Hanover in Virginia,
'"A Sermon preached at the Installation of the Revd. Mr. John
Todd, Glasgow, 1754, pp. 17, 113.
''^Letters from the Rev. Mr. Davies, 2nd ed., London, 1757. p. 12;
W. H. Foote, Sketches of Virginia [first series], Philada., 1850, pp.
286, 289.
i82 THE ENGLISH HYMN
October 6th, i'/63 (Philadelphia: Andrew Steuart, 1763).
"I am fully persuaded," he said, "that the churches in these
parts have received very great advantage from [Watts']
excellent compositions, especially his sacramental hymns."
By others in the Presbytery this opinion was not shared.
Even on the New Side the change in the Psalmody was
hesitating and gradual. The Old Side churches furnished
no occasion for the Synod of Philadelphia to adjudicate on
Psalmody during the whole period of the schism. When in
1763 the query already noted as to the status of "Dr. Watts's
imitation" in the reunited Church reached the Synod of
New York and Philadelphia, it is plain that recent investi-
gation had convinced many that the Imitations could not
be regarded as Psalm-versions. In the Synod of 1764 there
was hot debate, and the situation was difficult between
lingering Old Side scruples and the New Side precedent in
the New York case. No conclusion could be reached till the
Synod of 1765 compromised upon a hesitating allowance
of the Imitations in these terms :
"The Synod judged it best, in present circumstances, only to declare
that they look on the inspired Psalms in Scripture, to be proper matter
to be sung in Divine worship, according to their original design and
the practice of the Christian churches, yet will not forbid those to
use the imitation of them whose judgment and inclination lead them
to do so." "
In the very year of this query, John Miller, by training
a Congregationalist, was complained of to the Presbytery of
Lewes, Delaware, for introducing Watts' Imitations into
his Duck Creek charge. The Presbytery sustained him, but
his other charge at Dover, continued to sing "Rous' Ver-
sion" for many years. ^^
At Philadelphia, in the Second Church, initiated by
Whitefield's visit, and shepherded by Gilbert Tennent, no
steps toward changing the Psalmody were ventured on till
1773. At the Whitefield Memorial Service, October 14,
''"'Records, p. 345.
"S. Miller, Life of Samuel Miller, Phila., 1869, vol. i, p. 22.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 183
1770, Watts' hymn, "A Funeral Thought," and Wesley's
"Ah! lovely appearance of death," taken from Whitefield's
hymn book, were sung by a company of young people,'^^
but doubtless regarded as "anthems. "^° On March 15,
1773, the congregation voted to introduce Watts' Imita-
tions. So much protest was made that a second congrega-
tional meeting was held on March 22, which ratified the
choice by a vote of 38 for Watts, and 8 for Rous.^^ The
minority vainly petitioned the session to reinstate "Rous"
as the only way to restore order and peace, and appealed to
the First Presbytery of Philadelphia, which refused to
interfere, "as the aforesaid Psalms are used by a large
Number of the Congregations within the Bounds of the
Synod, and the Synod have allowed the use of them."^^
An appeal brought the matter once more before the reunited
Synod. That body in 1774 declined to decide the case on
its merits, on the belated plea that it had no time to con-
sider the versions in question; but in view of earlier per-
missions to use "Dr. Watts's imitation," refused "to make
any order to forbid the congregation to continue the prac-
tice now begun. "^^
Thus once more the matter of changing the Psalmody
was left to the decision of the congregation concerned, and
the way was officially left open both for the forbearance
which Synod earnestly enjoined, and for the years of bitter
parochial strife which its decision assured. Meantime, in
the years preceding the Revolution, the change to Watts
was effected in some parishes, and in many more the advo-
cates of such change were steadily increasing in number.
In many minds the wish for improvement in the substance
of Praise must have been accompanied also by a longing for
"J. Sproat, Discourse occasioned by the death of George IVhitefield,
Phila., 1771.
*"The New Side Synod of N. Y. had recommended the disuse of
anthems on the Lord's Day. Records, p. 260.
'^Ms. minutes.
*'Ms. minutes, May 21, 1773.
^'Records, p. 448.
i84 THE ENGLISH HYMN
its better rendering. The Presbyterian Psalmody of the
time appears to have been as deplorable as that of New-
England before "regular" singing was introduced. The
adhesion to "Rous" carried with it generally an exclusive
regard for the few "common tunes" to which that version
had been sung in the old country. The ability to render
them with musical correctness had long been lost, and the
universal practice was to have the psalms lined out by a
precentor, who might or might not know the rudiments of
music. John Adams, accustomed to the New England im-
provements, reports that even in New York in 1774, the
Psalmody of the "Old Presbyterian Society" is "in the old
way, as we call it — all the drawling, quavering, discord in
the world. "^•^ Attending the college chapel at Princeton,
seven days later (August 27), he notes that the scholars
sing as badly as the Presbyterians at New York."^^ It is
altogether unlikely that much better conditions prevailed in
towns and settlements less accessible to observant travellers.
There had been, however, at Philadelphia a beginning of
"the art of psalmody," in which many Presbyterians were
concerned, and as early as 1760 a school in which it was
taught.**^ In 1 76 1 -2 James Lyon, a Nassau-Hall graduate
of 1759 and afterwards a Presbyterian clergyman, pub-
lished by subscription the most elaborate book of church
music that had yet appeared in the colonies : — Urania, or
a choice Collection of Psalm-Tunes, Anthems, and Hymns,
from the most approv'd authors, with some entirely new:
in two, three, and four parts: the zvhole peculiarly adapted
to the use of churches and private families: to ivhich are
prefi.v'd the plainest, & most necessary rules of psalmody.
^HVorks of John Adams, vol. ii, Boston, 1850, p. 348.
''Ibid., p. 356.
^"0. G. Sonneck, Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon, Washington,
1905- P- ^2y. As early as 1763 there appeared at Philadelphia from the
press of Anthony Armbruster, Tunes in three parts, for the several
metres of Dr. Watts's version of the Psalms; some of which tunes
are new. Price one shilling & sixpence, stitched. There was a 2nd
ed. in 1764.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 185
By James Lyon, A.B. (Philadelphia). Among the sub-
scribers are many connected with Nassau-Hall, and
prominent Presbyterian clergy and laymen in Philadelphia
and elsewhere. It was followed by The lazv fulness, excel-
lency and advantage of instrumental musick in the public
worship of God, urg'd and cnforc'd, from Scripture, and the
examples of the far greater part of Christians in all ages.
Address' d to all {particularly the Presbyterians and Bap-
tists) who have hitherto been taught to look upon the use
of instrumental musick in the worship of God as unlazvful.
By a Presbyterian (Philadelphia, Wm. Dunlap, 1763).
This Presbyterian plea for the organ is with a view of im-
proving the congregational singing in the Philadelphia
churches, of which the writer says that "the miserable
Manner in which this Part of their Worship is dron'd out,
seems rather to imitate the Braying of Asses, than the
divine Melody so often recommended in Scripture. "^^
But the list of subscribers prefixed to some early copies
of Urania shows that "the art of psalmody" had attracted
the attention of some influential men in the Second Church.
And, from the young people's choir of 1770 already re-
ferred to, and the ensuing struggle to introduce Watts, we
may infer that some beginning was soon attempted in the
way of bettering church music there. But any such attempt
there or elsewhere was effectually blocked by the Revolu-
tion.
"P. 19. There is a copy in The Pennsylvania Historical Society.
The pamphlet appeared in April, and was so readily bought that Dun-
lap advertised a 2nd ed. on June i6. In the same month a burlesque
2nd ed. was advertised as published by Andrew Steuart, viz. A Cud-
gell to drive the Devil out of every Christian place of zvorship: Be-
ing a second edition {with necessary improvements, which now render
the sense entirely plain) of The lawfulness, excellency and advantage,
of instrumental music, in the public worship of God, but chiefly of
organs. (Sonneck, op. cii., pp. 131, 132. Hildeburn, No. 1883).
"Presbyterian" states that St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, was "the
only English Congregation in the Province" having an organ at that
time, though the two other Episcopal churches were then raising
organ funds (pp. 28, 30).
i86 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In the decimated and impoverished congregations at the
close of the war, Psalmody was maintained with difficulty.
The complaint'^^ that the services had largely "lost even the
appearance of devotion" may be explained by the religious
apathy and irreverence which the Revolution left behind it.
But the fact that "many" did "not join in singing the
praises of God" or give their attention to the singing in
progress, is partly at least explained by the deplorable con-
ditions to which the singing was reduced. If it was so bad
musically before the war, it was certainly no better after-
ward. Samuel Blair at Neshaminy describes the congre-
gations as "drolling out the tones of ill-measured dullness,
or jarring with harsh discord."
2. The Great "Psalmody Controversy"
From other points of view than the musical, there was
apparent need of some reconstruction of Presbyterian
Psalmody. The number of those using or wishing to use
Watts' Imitations and even his hymns, was always grow-
ing; but, even so, The Psalms of David imitated contained
many objectionable allusions to the British sovereign and
state. On the other hand, in almost every congregation in
the Scotch and Irish settlements of the South and West
there was at least a determined minority resisting change.
Any suggestion, on the part of the more progressive ele-
ment, of Watts' superiority, was enough to turn a congre-
gation into a debating society. Any effort to introduce
Watts into public worship was to disturb and often to
convulse a parish, if not indeed a larger area.
It may have been with a hope of uniting the two parties
that a proposal was made to the Synod of 1785, with a view
of attaining "the nearest uniformity that is practicable,"
that "the Synod choose out, and order some of their number
to take the assistance of all the versions in our power, and
^^Preface to proposed Directory for Worship, in A Draught of the
Form of the Government and Discilytine of the Presbyterian Church
in the U. S. A., New York, S. & J. Loudon, 1787, p. 53.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 187
compose for us a version more suitable to our circumstances
and taste than any we now have."^^ After some debate,
the proposal was carried by a small majority. The com-
mittee reported progress in 1786, and was continued. No
further report from them is recorded. The minutes of the
Synod of 1787 contain the bare statement : "The Synod did
allow and do allow, that Dr. Watts's imitation of David's
Psalms, as revised by Mr. Barlow, be sung in the churches
and families under their care."^*^ There is nothing in the
record to connect this with any previous action; but John
Black, who was present, stated in a sermon at Marsh-
Creek in 1790,'^^ that the action was taken upon the report
of the committee theretofore appointed, to the effect, that
having compared such versions as they could obtain, they
did not apprehend any so well calculated for christian
worship, as that of Dr. Watts, as amended by Mr. Barlow
of New England." He adds that Barlow's Watts "was
then laid before Synod for their consideration, who, after
mature deliberation, gave it their judicial sanction."
But the unexpected part of Mr. Black's testimony is what
follows, to the effect that "the committee had also added a
book of hymns to this version; but it was laid aside; not
because Synod disapproved of the thing in itself, but because
some parts of the collection seemed to them exceptionable."
There is no reason to question his testimony as to the pro-
posed book, and his interpretation of the mind of the Synod
is confirmed by the fact that its committee to prepare a new
Directory for Worship embodied hymn singing in their
draught of their Directory printed in that same year. That
the Synod in 1787 was already prepared to examine a
specific hymn book on its merits goes far to explain win-
hymn singing slipped into the written constitution of the
Church with so little debate or even notice. Even so, two
^''Records, pp. 513, 514, 522.
"Ibid., p. 535.
"r/it' duty of Christians, in sinijing the praise of God, explained.
A Sermon. By John Black, Carlisle, Kline & Reynolds, 1790, p. 46.
i88 THE ENGLISH HYMN
questions remain to puzzle us. First: if any hymns were
considered in 1787, why not Watts' Hymns, which were
not "exceptionable," had become dear to many, and were
beginning to find their way into churches, without authori-
zation? Second: what was the "book of hymns" added by
the committee? It would seem probable that it was the
appendix of seventy hymns (mostly from Watts; a few
of his own), which Barlow added to his revision of Watts'
Imitations as presented to, and adopted by, the General
Association of Connecticut. Nevertheless surviving copies
of one of the first issues of Barlozv's Watts containing the
certificate of its authorization by Synod, and printed at
Philadelphia in 1787 by Francis Bailey, have, bound in with
the psalms and bearing a separate title,^^ a collection of
139 hymns, whose presence in that connection has not been
explained. The collection is of unusual excellence and
variety for that time, being brightened by lyrics of both
the Wesley brothers. Miss Steele and others later than
■Watts. In view of the fact that such men of culture as
Dr. Ewing, Dr. Robert Davidson, and Dr. Alison, were
on the committee, it remains as an interesting possibility
that this collection is the first tentative hymn book of Ameri-
can Presbyterianism.
The approval of Barlow's Watts by the Synod of 1787
involved no change of attitude, except that it gave finality
to a position which heretofore might seem to be held tenta-
tively. Synod's action was taken in full view of the con-
troversy then raging in the South and West between the
partisans of "Rous" and those of Watts, in the presence
indeed of representatives of both sides from the disturbed
'^Hymns suited to the Christian worship in the United States of
America. Philadelphia: printed by Francis Bailey, at Yorick's Head,
in Market Street. MDCCLXXXVH. The title of the edition of
"Barlow's Watts" which it follows reads : Psalms, carefully suited to
the Christian worship in the United States of America. Being an
improvement of the Old Version of the Psalms of David. Allowed by
the reverend Synod of New York and Philadelphia, to be used in
churches and private families (Same imprint and date).
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 189
Presbytery of Abingdon. ^^ The pleas of neither side moved
Synod from its position : — it would not commit the Church
to any type of Psalmody; it had already approved both
"Rous" and Watts for use in worship, and approved both
still; any question as to which should be preferred in any
given case was a parochial issue, to be handled forbearingly
no doubt, but not to be brought before Synod.^^
The issue between "Rous" and Watts was thenceforward,
then, merely a parochial issue. But, in the years following,
the aggregate of parishes affected by it was so great, and
the consequences so serious, as to make these years of con-
troversy something like a distinct era in the history of the
Presbyterian Church.
In Virginia the issue was definitely framed in a fruitless
appeal to the Presbytery of Hanover to discipline the Rev.
Charles Cummings for abetting the use of Watts. But Mr.
Cummings was forced out of his charges by the uneasiness
of his people; and the atmosphere of party feeling is re-
vealed by the inquiry from some in various congregations
to Presbytery in 1784, as to whether they would be endan-
gered by attending upon the Word preached by Mr. Cum-
mings.^^ In Tennessee the Psalmody question played a
principal part in the tumultuous disorders in the newly
formed Presbytery of Abingdon, which came before the
Synod of 1787. In the North Carolina settlements every
proposal to introduce Watts bred trouble. At New Provi-
dence the use of his Imitations for one Sunday by a pulpit
supply (William C. Davis) started the suspicion that the
pastor (James Wallis) had connived with him, and per-
manently disrupted the church, the minority forming a
separate congregation.^^ At Poplar Tent, where, about
1785, Mr. Archibald, the pastor, determined to introduce
^Records, p. 515.
'*Ibid., p. 537.
"C/. W. H. Foote, Sketches of Virginia, second series, 2nd ed.,
Philadelphia, 1856, pp. 124, 125.
"*W. H. Foote, Sketches of North Carolina, New York, 1846, p. 249.
190 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Watts upon his own authority, some of the Rous party left
and some stayed to interrupt the worship.^" The result of
the controversy in North Carolina was a permanent schism ;
those favoring a strict Psalmody withdrawing to form an
Associate Presbytery.
The fiercest heat attained in the controversy, and the
greatest devastation it left behind, were in the new settle-
ments of Kentucky. Elsewhere the Rous advocates might
be regarded as acting on the defensive, but in Kentucky
their cause found an aggressive champion in the person of
the Rev. Adam Rankin, who came to Lexington in 1784.
He sincerely thought he heard a divine call to purge the
Church of the taint in its Congregational Song, and his
enthusiasm for the exclusive use of psalms not only pos-
sessed his mind but perverted it. When he found in 1785,
at the Cane Run conference of the young churches, that
his associates were not in sympathy with him nor anxious
to agitate a vexed question, he at once entered upon a cam-
paign of fierce and bitter polemic, in the role of a prophet
hurling epithets upon his opposers. Censured by Presbytery
for traducing his brethren and barring the singers of Watts
from the Communion, and suspended for contumacy, he
and his supporters withdrew to form what came to be called
"the Rankinite Schism," composed of twelve congregations,
whose fortunes we need not follow.^®
The Rankin polemics and schism threw a blight upon
Kentucky Presbyterianism from which few if any congre-
gations escaped. The spirit of dissension was kept alive for
years, and in many places Psalmody became the main issue
and concern of religion. Internal feuds prevented attention
to the inroads of vice and infidelity, and the high promise
of Presbyterianism lapsed into spiritual and material de-
cline.
"''Ibid., p. 442.
"^For the "Rankin Schism" see R. Davidson, History of the Presby-
terian Church in Kentucky, New York, 1847, chap. 3, and "Origin of
the Rankinites" in Evangelical Record, Lexington, vol. ii, Sept., 1813.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 191
In Pennsylvania, l^ast and West, the ground was laid for
the fire of controversy, but the change to the new Psalmod\-
was made with less disturbance, because more gradually and
with more of the spirit of mutual concession. In Philadel-
phia the change was effected in the Third Church unani-
mously in 1788.^" In the West the Presbytery of Redstone,
through its entire career, kept its records clear of any allu-
sion to the Psalmody controversy. Watts' Imitations, and
afterwards his Hymns, found their way into the churches
through the homes, and frequently were used at first in
rotation with "Rous."^*'*^ In some churches, even the use
of the Imitations was postponed, as in the First Church of
Carlisle, until well into the XlXth century. ^"^
3. Hymn Singing Under the New (1788) "Directory
FOR Worship"
The real issue in the Rous-Watts controversy was not
between a literal or a freer Psalmody, but between an Old
Testament Psalmody and an evangelical Hymnody. That
issue once decided, it remained for the Church to embody
its convictions and practice in the constitution then being
framed. This was effected by Synodical adoption of The
Directory for the zvorship of God, of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America, on May 16, 1788.
Unlike some other parts of the draught reported by the com-
mittee of 1787, its chapter "Of the Singing of Psalms" was
adopted intact. The title of the chapter is still that of the
corresponding chapter of the Westminster Directory of
1644, but where the opening sentence of the original had
declared "the duty of Christians to praise God publiquely
by singing of Psalms," the new Directory asserts that such
duty is to be fulfilled "by singing psalms or hymns." The
"J. W. Scott, All Historical Sketch of the Pine Street, or Third
Pres. Church, Philadelphia, 1837, P- 3i-
"•"Jos. Smith, Old Redstone, Philadelphia, 1854, p. 290.
"'C. P. Wing, History of the First Pres. Ch. of Carlisle, Carlisle,
1877, p. 167. Watts was not used till 1824.
192 THE ENGLISH HYMN
other changes deal with the propriety of cultivating a
knowledge of music, of giving up the practice of lining,
and of devoting more time to "this excellent part of divine
service" than was usual.
The cultivation of music thus enjoined began at once in
some churches, in others had already begun under the
numerous "Instructors of Psalmody" raised up under the
impulse imparted by Billings, especially Andrew Law of
Connecticut. These teachers went from place to place,
establishing "Psalmody classes." In the region around
Philadelphia, the Presbyterian churches shared in a gen-
eraP"^'" movement to improve sacred music, under the leader-
ship of Andrew Adgate. He founded there in 1784 an
"Institution for Promoting the Knowledge of Psalmody,"
afterwards the "Uranian Academy. "^"^ In 1787 he was
preparing to establish "an Institution for Cultivating
Church Music free to all."^*'^ Samuel Blair paid tribute
to his benevolence, assiduity and success, and rejoiced in
the great improvement he had effected, saying that "Public
worship hath assumed, comparatively, a celestial grace;
and the temples of religion, . . . now resound with vibra-
tions of well-ordered and commanding melody."^**^ Mr.
Blair's wish that Adgate's "important services" may con-
tinue with the encouragement of all denominations"^"^ was
thwarted by his falling a victim to the yellow fever epidemic
of 1793, while serving on the Committee of Alleviation.^'^'''
This movement to improve singing was inevitably a move-
'"-Saml. Blair, Discourse (1789), p. 25, note.
"'Sonneck, op. cit., pp. 183, 184.
'"■'Preface to his Psalms and Hymns.
'"M Discourse on Psalmody. Delivered by the Rev. Samuel Blair,
in the Presbyterian Church in Neshaminy, at a public concert, given
by Mr. Spicer, Master in sacred music: under the superintendency of
Mr. Erwin, Pastor of that Church (Philadelphia, John McCoUoch,
1789). This scarce pamphlet is the principal evidence of the Presby-
terian participation in the Adgate movement, and was published "to
enliven and diffuse the spirit of improvement in Psalmody" (preface).
^'^Ibid., p. 25, note.
^"''Minutes of the Committee, Philadelphia, 1848, pp. 45, 200.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 193
iiient toward the use of Watts or of other hymns. The
monotony of metre and rude rhythms of "Rous' version"
would not serve the purpose of the "masters in sacred
music." That is why, in so many parish records, the giving
up of lining and the adoption of Watts are recorded as a
single entry. ^"'^ Copies have survived of Select Psalms and
Hymns for the use of Mr. Adgate's pupils: and proper for
all singing-schools. Philadelphia: Printed at the Uranian
Press, by Young and M'Cidloch, Corner of Chestnut &
Second Street. MDCCLXXXVII. The forty hymns were
chosen from Watts, Wesley, Steele and others, aiming at
metrical variety. Adgate and his colleague, "Mr. Spicer,"
had also their own music books : the Uranian Instructions
of 1787, Rudiments of Music (1788), Selection of Sacred
Harmony (1788), Philadelphia Harmony (1788); all
originally Adgate's, and sometimes, in later editions, car-
ried forward by Spicer. TJie Art of Singing, and other
works of Andrew Law, also played a considerable part in
the improvement of Presbyterian singing.
No immediate steps were taken by the General Assembly
in providing the hymns to be sung under the new Directory.
In the minds of many, "Hymns" and "Watts" were synony-
mous. The use of the Hymns and Spiritual Songs was not
formally authorized until 1802 ; but at least as early as 1788
editions of Barlow's IVatts, bearing the clerk's certificate
of Synod's authorization, appeared with the Hymns bound
in. Evidently some churches did not await their authoriza-
tion. Watts' Hymns may be called the first hymn book
of American Presbyterianism, disregarding the proposed
book of 1787. The second was an independent local ven-
ture, with two title pages : A Version of the Book of Psalms,
selected from the most approved versions. . . . Approved
of by the Presbytery of Charleston: and A Collection of
Hymns for public and private worship. Approved of by
the Presbytery of Charleston, (both) Charleston, Printed by
"'E. g. in the Third Church of Philadelphia, Sept. 29, 1788.
194 THE ENGLISH HYMN
/. Mclver, No. 47, Bay, MDCCXCVI. This book was pre-
pared by Dr. George Buist of Charleston with the advice
of Dr. Hugh Blair. ^^^ The hymns are from many
sources, including the English Arian hymn books, and with
a preference for the Scottish Paraphrases. The book was
used by the Presbyterian churches in the city and neighbor-
hood of Charleston until at least 1809.^^°
What must be regarded as the third Presbyterian hymn
book was the small collection annexed by President Dwight
to his revision of Watts' Imitations for the Connecticut
Association, to take the place of Barlow's; inasmuch as
these hymns were specifically allowed by the General As-
sembly of 1802, in connection with the revised Psalms, and
at the same time as the allowance of Watts' Hymns. ^^^ The
Assembly had cooperated in securing Dwight's revision of
the Imitations, as it had cooperated with other projects of
the Connecticut Association; but apparently without shar-
ing the prejudice aroused by Barlow and without much
interest in the results of Dr. Dwight's labors. And in the
end it appears to have been satisfied that churches under
Connecticut influence, or which preferred Dwight to Bar-
low, should make use both of his revised Imitations and his
collection of hymns.^^^
The great body of the Church had no apparent desire for
a hymn book of their own. As early as 1796 the Assembly
was overtured to appoint a committee to compile one, but
the proposal was allowed to lie on the table. ^^^ In 18 17 the
Presbytery of Philadelphia sent up to the Assembly for its
approbation "a copy of a collection of Hymns, intended
for the use of society meetings; the Presbytery having
declined to express their opinion of the book, thinking it
""Preface.
^^"Sermons by the Reverend George Buist, D.D., New York, 1809,
vol. i, pp. 311, 312, note.
"^Minutes 1789-1820, p. 249.
""On this subject see the writer's "The American Revisions of
Watts's Psalms," already cited, pp. 25-26.
^^'Minutes, ut supra, p. 116.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 195
proper that it should be submitted to the Assembly."^ ^*
This was presumably Hymns for social worship, collected
from various authors (Philadelphia: W. W. Woodward,
1817), the work of James P. Wilson, pastor of the First
Church of Philadelphia. It contained 181 hymns, and in
intent and contents ranges with the "Supplements to
Watts." After reference to a committee, the consideration
of the book was indefinitely postponed. ^^^' No further
attempt was made to prepare a hymn book for the special
use of the Church till the proceedings that culminated in
the Psalms and Hymns of 183 1.
In recognizing hymn singing in its constitution the
Church was far from the intention of cutting itself off
from psalm singing. It approved, rather. Dr. Watts'
System of Praise as a whole, with its two departments of
Psalms and Hymns. Nor did the desire for an evangelical
Hymnody among the people imply dissatisfaction with
Watts' Imitations. Probably no parish introduced his
Hymns apart from the Psalms : some had them bound up
with Barlow's Revision from the first : many remained
satisfied with the revised Psalms alone. The use of Bar-
lozvs IVafts became so widespread as to make it the
characteristic praise book of Presbyterianism, and the addi-
tion to it of the Hymns became a more and more common
practice till toward the end of the first quarter of the XlXth
century, when it may be regarded as practically universal.
Hindered as it was by the Scottish predilection for an Old
Testament Psalmody, the Presbyterian Church was slower
than some others in attaining the full measure of Dr. Watts'
System of Praise, but perhaps in no Church did his ascend-
ency become more complete. It was a result so belated that,
when viewed in connection with the progress of English
Hymnody as a whole, it seems like a step backward. A
full century had passed since the first appearance of Watts'
Hymns. The area of Hymnody had been widened perma-
"*Ibid., p. 641.
'""Ibid., p. 667.
196 THE ENGLISH HYMN
nently under the Evangelical Revival, and its contents
greatly enriched not only by fresh hymns but by new types
of hymns. During the first quarter of the XlXth century
the only apparent contact of the Presbyterian Church with
this newer Hymnody was through the profTer of Dr.
Wilson's little book of 1817;^'" its only dealing with it was
to "postpone indefinitely."
HI. The Baptists ( 1 754-1827)
I. Their Gradual Adoption of Watts' "Psalms and
Hymns"
H the earliest New England Baptists practised psalm
singing at all, they probably, like their neighbors, lined the
psalms out of The Bay Psalm Book. But the Baptist immi-
grants had come out of the heated atmosphere of the "con-
troversie of Singing," and many of them during the years
when persecution had favored the habit of not singing, lest
attention be attracted to the meetings.
The First Church of Boston introduced singing before
1728, lining the psalms until 1759;^^^ the Newport church
during the short pastorate of John Cromer, beginning
in 1726.^^^ In the First Church of Providence there was
no singing till the coming of President Manning in 1771.
Even then its introduction was only accomplished by allow-
ing the women to vote for it, and caused a division. ^^^
In the Middle Colonies and to some extent in the South-
ern, the introduction of singing into Baptist churches was
effected through the influence of a body of Welsh Baptists
""Even Dr. Wilson did not know that his 176th hymn, "Jesus ! lover
of my soul," was by one of the Wesleys.
"^N. E. Wood, History of the First Baptist Church of Boston,
Philadelphia, 1899, pp. 220, 243.
"*A. H. Newman, History of the Baptist Churches in the United
States, ed., Philada., 1898, p. 115.
"®R. A. Guild, History of Brown University, Boston, 1867, pp.
207-210.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 197
settled on the Welsh Tract in Delaware. ^^'^ They adopted
in 1716 an English Confession of Faith of 1689, but with
the addition of two articles from a confession published by
Benjamin Keach and his son Elias in 1697, o"^ being on the
duty "Of Singing Psalms, &c."^^^ The increase of immi-
gration soon made Philadelphia a Baptist centre, and in
1742 the Philadelphia Association ordered the printing of
a new edition of the Confession of 1689 as their own,^^^
with the insertion of two articles, one on the singing of
Psalms,^-^ the other on laying on of hands upon baptized
believers. These articles, thus incorporated in their doc-
trinal statement, prove to be identical with those of Keach
as already adopted by the church on the Welsh Tract in
1716.124
The Bay Psalm Book was probably in use in and around
Philadelphia as well as in New England. In Boston the
First Church changed to Tate and Brady in 1740, "so long
as no objection should be offered against it" -}'" the Bald-
win Place Church sang Tate and Brady till about 1770.^'*'
And it may be that some Baptist demand in and around
Philadelphia helped to encourage Franklin to reprint that
version in 1733.
In America as in England Baptists were not greatly con-
cerned to preserve a strict Psalmody, owing partly to the
desire for sacramental hymns. When the "controversie of
""Morgan Edwards, Materials toward a history of the Baptists in
Delaware State, in Pennsylvania Magazine of History, vol. ix, p. 52.
'"W. J. McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of Faith, Philadelphia
[1911], p. 294.
"''Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, 1707-1^,07,
Philada., 1851, p. 46.
"* "Singing psalms met with some opposition, especially at Cohansey" :
Morgan Edwards, ut supra.
"*A Confession of Faith . . . Adopted by the Baptist Association
met at Philadelphia, Sept. 25, 1742. . . . To which are added. Two
Articles, vis. Of Imposition of Hands, and Singing of Psalms, in
Publick Worship: Philadelphia, B. Franklin, 1743; often reprinted.
"'N. E. Wood, op. cit., p. 220.
'^D. C. Eddy, Memorial Sermon, Boston, 1865, p. 30.
198 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Singing" was disposed of, the introduction of hymns hardly-
raised an issue.
But the Great Awakening was less immediately effective
in modifying the practice of the Baptist churches of New
England than of the Congregational. The Baptist churches
had largely lapsed into a cold "Arminianism," and held
aloof from the earlier stages of the Revival, partly because
they regarded it as a Calvinistic movement, and partly from
a sense of isolation from their neighbors. The Revival had
first to create "New Light" churches, and to modify the
theology and the spirit of the old churches before the evan-
gelical Psalms and Hymns of Watts could commend them-
selves to New England Baptists.
In the churches centering at Philadelphia the atmosphere
was different, and the way more prepared by the evangelical
Calvinism already prevailing in them. Franklin's reprints
of The Psalms imitated in 1741 and of the Hymns in 1742
were probably used in some of them about Philadelphia. In
Boston, Tate and Brady was not displaced by Watts' Psalms
and Hymns till after 1770 in the Baldwin Place Church,^^^
and in 1771 in the First Church. ^^* Their adoption became
ultimately very widespread, and they rooted themselves deep
in the hearts of a great body of Baptists.
2. Obstacles to Watts' Ascendency
But several considerations tended to impede to some
extent the ascendency of Watts in American Baptist
Hymnody.
There was, first, the tendency to establish a denomina-
tional Hymnody, especially to supply hymns suitable to
"believers' baptism." Morgan Edwards has preserved the
hymn that had been used at the "Baptisterion" on the banks
of the Schuylkill, just beyond Philadelphia. ^^^ The earliest
'"^D. C. Eddy, op. cit., p. 30.
"'N. E. Wood, op. cit., p. 266.
^"^^ Materials towards a history of the Baptists in Pennsylvania, vol.
i, Philada., J. Crukshank, 1770, pp. 131, 132.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 199
American Baptist hymn book, Hymns and Spiritual Songs,
collected from the works of several authors (Newport,
1766), opens with sixteen hymns on Baptism. And so, in
1808, after the appearance of many books, the anonymous
The Boston Collection of sacred and devotional Hyrnns
"was compiled principally with a view to accommodate the
Baptist Churches of Boston and its vicinity, who have long
desired such a collection, for the purpose of singing at the
administration of" Baptism.
From the first, however, the desire of many went beyond
baptismal hymns. They wanted Baptist hymn books, that
should make available the new store of hymns, Baptist and
other, written since Watts' time and made current in Eng-
lish collections ; and many were moved to contribute hymns
of their own composition. The independent and individual-
istic spirit combined with denominational insistence, that
has always characterized Baptists, developed and has main-
tained a striking proclivity toward the multiplication of
hymn books. The great array of these tends to obscure the
actual extent of the use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns in
Baptist congregations.
The Newport book was followed by two at Philadelphia :
A • choice Collection of Hymns, in which are some never
before printed. Philadelphia: printed in the year i'j82^^^
and A choice Collection of Hymns, from various authors,
adapted to publick worship: designed for the edification of
the pious of all denominations; but more particularly for
the use of the Baptist Church in Philadelphia (Enoch Story,
1784). Both of these appear to have been prepared for his
following of "Universal Baptists" by Elhanan Winchester,
after his exclusion from the pulpit of the First Baptist
Church. The latter is said to have been used in the Church
of the German Baptist Brethren (Dunkers) already formed
at Germantown.^^^ It certainly furnished much of the ma-
"*Not in Hildeburn's Issues of the Pennsylvania Press. The writ-
er's copy is recorded by Evans.
"'Ms. note in the writer's copy.
200 THE ENGLISH HYMN
terials of the Brethren's first English hymn book, The
Christians Duty, printed in 1791.^^-
In 1788 the Philadelphia Association determined to have
an official book for the associated churches. ^^^ It appeared
as A Selection of Psalms and Hymns, done under the ap-
pointment of the Philadelphian Association. By Samuel
Jones, D.D. and Burgis Allison, A.M. (Philadelphia, R.
Aitken & Son, 1790 : 2nd ed., 1801 ; 4th, 1819). The psalms
were all from Watts: most of the hymns from Rippon's
Selection (London, 1786) and one "printed in London,
1774" ; apparently Conyers'. The book was highly regarded
within and beyond the Association. Hymns on different
spiritual subjects (Norwich, 1792) by Benjamin Cleve-
land,^^^ as also the later Hymns and Spiritual Songs on
various subjects. By the Rev. Ebenezcr Jayne (Morristown,
1809), were offerings of original contributions, of which
Cleveland's hymn, "Oh, could I find from day to day," alone
survived.
John Stanford, lately come from England to New York,
prepared A Collection of evangelical Hymns (T. and J.
Swords, 1792) for the use of the congregation gathered in
his school room. It included selections not only from
Watts but from the best English hymn writers of the time.
And John Asplund, lately come from Sweden, and still
remembered by his Baptist Register, was responsible for an
American reprint of Richard Burnham's New Hymns
(Thomas Hall, Boston, 1796). The outspoken Calvinism
of these hymns was perhaps the reason for their reprinting.
It is likely that many of the Baptist hymn books were
not intended to replace Watts in church worship : a number
bore on their title-pages the assurance that they were only
supplements to his Psalms and Hymns. Of these the most
popular, here as in England, was Rippon's Selection. Two
""See chap, viii, II, 2, (2).
^'^Minutcs, p. 239.
"*C/. H. S. Burrage, Baptist Hymn Writers and their Hymns, Port-
land, Me., n. d., pp. 223, 641.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 201
reprints of it appeared in 1792, at New York and Elizabeth,
and were followed by others, in various places. A Selection
of cz'angclical Hymns supplementary to Doctor Rippon
(Burlington, N. J.: S. C. Ustic) appeared in 1807: and a
further attempt to enrich his Selection was made by Dr.
William Staughton in an edition to which he added An
Appendix, from the Olney Hymns, with additional Hymns,
original^^^' and selected (Philadelphia: W. W. Woodward,
1813; rev. and corn, 1827).
In a more independent spirit William Parkinson, of the
First Church in New York, published in 1809 A Selection
of Hymns and Spiritual Songs . . . as an Appendix to
Dr. IVatts's Psalms and Hymns, which, he says in his
preface, "in most congregations of Christians are constantly
used." William Collier's A new Selection of Hymns (Bos-
ton, 1 8 12), was also a supplement to Watts. That such
books were actually used in connection with Watts appears
from the preface of Daniel Dodge's A Selection of Hymns
and Psalms (Wilmington, 1808), an effort to combine the
best from Watts and Rippon for the convenience of those
who found it burdensome to carry both books to church,
but could not agree to dispense with either; "some being
passionately fond of one and some of the other." A later
book, Thomas B. Ripley's A Selection of Hymns for Con-
ference and Prayer Meetings (Portland, Me., 1821 : 2nd ed.,
Bangor, 183 1) also called itself a Supplement to \Vatts.
A second consideration tending to impede the ascendency
of Watts was the preference of a considerable proportion
of Baptist people for songs of a lower literary grade. The
strength of the Church was among the uncultured; its exten-
sion was by means of evangelistic methods. "The mass of
the Baptists were indifferent or hostile to ministerial educa-
tion." They craved highly emotional preaching and songs
of the same type in free rhythms that could be sung to
popular melodies with choruses.
"'Staughton had printed a volume of Juvenile Poems, and wrote
many hymns in a style no longer in vogue.
202 THE ENGLISH HYMN
This showed itself as early as 1784^^^ in the Divine
Hymns, or Spiritual Songs (Norwich) of Joshua Smith,
a New Hampshire layman, and others, which gave currency
to the hymn on "Christ the Appletree,"^^" and made odd
additions to other hymns. This book in varying forms^^*
was very popular. Its 1803 edition w^as the first hymn book
used in the First Church of Portland, Maine.^^^ "Spiritual
songs" appeared in most Baptist hymn books. John Court-
ney's The Christian's Pocket Companion (Richmond, 1805 :
rev. ed., 183 1) contained "one hundred and seventy-eight
pages of" them. They were sung also without book.
"This kind of composition," says Mr. Parkinson in 1809,
"has, for several years past been greatly abused — Songs
have been circulated, not only in Ms. but also in print,
which have been so barbarous in language, so unequal in
numbers, and so defective in rhyme, as to excite disgust in
all persons even of tolerable understanding in these things ;
what is infinitely worse, so extremely unsound in doctrine,
that no discerning Christian can sing or hear them without
pain." Believing that "many of them, notwithstanding,
contain valuable ideas," Mr. Parkinson aimed to "lessen
the use of several hymn books now in common circulation"
by furnishing "those who choose to make use of them
with a greater variety and more correct edition of what
are called Spiritual Songs than they now possess." ^^^ We
may judge existing conditions by the character of some
of the 170 songs appended to Parkinson's Selection with
a view of ameliorating them. In the first Newton's un-
""Brinley catalogue, lot 6038.
"^The first stanza of this hymn ran (ed. i794) : —
"The tree of life, my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit, and always green;
The trees of nature fruitless be,
Compar'd with Christ the Appletree."
"'For some of the known editions, see W. DeL. Love, Samson
Occum, Boston, n. d., p. 180, note.
''"Burrage, op. cit., p. 643.
""Preface to Parkinson's Selection, 1809.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 203
fortunate lines are altered to serve as a refrain after each
stanza : —
"Then be entreated now to stop
For unless you warning take,
Ere you are aware you'll drop
Into the burning lake."
The third is "A Dream" of Judgment Day. The fifth is
entitled "Miss Hataway's Experience" and includes her con-
versation with "an uncle from whom she had large expecta-
tions." The fifteenth begins, "Ye scarlet-colour'd sinners,
come."
Parkinson's Selection had reached a third edition in 181 7,
and Southern Baptists had called for three editions of Jesse
Mercer's TJie Cluster of Spiritual Songs, Divine Hymns and
social Poems: being chiefly a collection (Augusta, Ga.).
By this time the new zeal for missions was developing a
demand for an educated ministry, and drawing a sharp line
of cleavage between its advocates and the "anti-effort"
Baptists. In the Hymnody the line was not so sharply
drawn, but as a rule the less educated congregations, espe-
cially in the South, carried forward the use of "Spiritual
Songs." An especial favorite was Starke Dupuy's Hymns
and Spiritual Songs, selected and original (Louisville, c.
1818: 22nd ed., 1841 ; revised by J. M. Peck, 1843), emo-
tional and often illiterate. Even in New England David
Benedict's The Pawtucket Collection of Conference Hymns
(181 7) reached an eighth edition (1843). I" Kentucky
Absolom Graves' Hymns, Psalms and Spiritual Songs (with
III of the latter), appearing in 1825, reached a second
edition in 1829. In Virginia Andrew Broadus published
in 1828 his Dover Selection of Spiritual Songs by recom-
mendation of the Dover Association, but in his better
Virginia Selection of 1836 the "spiritual song" element is
apologized for as an allowance made for "popular liking."
William Dossey's The Choice; in two parts (3rd ed., 1830)
was largely used in the South, and included over a hundred
of his own hymns.
204 THE ENGLISH HYMN
There were, on the other hand, many Baptist churches,
especially in the North and East/^^ which had yielded very
partially or not at all to "popular liking," and had never
given up the use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns. But their
pastors had required hymns to supplement Watts, and the
people complained of the inconvenience of using more than
one book and the difficulty of finding the hymns as given
out. This led to something like a concerted effort to con-
serve the better type of Baptist Hymnody. James M.
Winchell, who had developed congregational song in his
First Church of Boston,^'*^ published there in 1818 An
I arrangement of the Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
of . . . Watts, to zvhicJi are added, indexes . . . to
facilitate the use of the zvhole . . . , with which was bound
up A Selection of more than three hundred Hymns, from
the most approved authors (1819). "Winchell's Watts"
attained, and for many years held, in New England a use
so wide that it has been described as "universal. "^'^^ In
1820 the same office was performed for the churches center-
ing at Philadelphia by The Psalms and Hymns of Dr.
^ Watts, arranged by Dr. Rippon; zvith Dr. Rippon's Selection
in one volume. An improved edition appeared in 1827, and
was commended to the churches by a large number of
ministers as the best hymn book "in use among Chris-
tians."^^* In the copies of this edition a portrait of Dr.
Watts was not unfitly prefixed.
"^Samuel Holyoke published in 1804 The Christian Harmonist:
containing a set of tunes adapted to all the metres in Mr. Rippon's
Selection of Hymns, in the Collection of Hymns by Mr. Joshua Smith,
and in Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns (Salem). It was "designed for
the use of the Baptist churches in the United States" ; and the three
books named are plainly those in most general use in the class of
churches which Mr. Holyoke regarded as likely to patronize his
enterprise.
^"Cf. R. H. Neale, Address at 200th Anniversary of First Baptist
Church, Boston, 1865, p. 38.
'"Neale, ut supra.
^"Cf. "recommendations" preserved in Sommers and Dagg's ed.,
Phila., D. Clark, 1838.
"RENOVATIOX OF PSALMODY" 205
V
HIS INFLUENCE UPON THE ENGLISH HYMN
In attempting now to estimate the place of Dr. Watts in
the history of the Enghsh Hymn, it is convenient to dis-
tinguish the bearings of his work and influence upon the
development of the Hymn itself, upon the production of
hymns, and upon hymn singing.
As to the Hymn. Watts undertook to construct Congre-
gational Song dc novo. He offered his System of Praise
to the churches as a substitute for all that they had been
accustomed to sing; and as such it came to be received in
its full scope and entirety by vast numbers of people to
whom the old Psalmody, or the earlier Hymnody, became
as though they had never been. Even to historians of Eng-
lish Hymnody the work of Watts has bulked so large as to
throw a deep shadow of obscurity over all his predecessors.
Thus Montgomery makes the oft-quoted remark that
"Watts may almost be called the inventor of hymns in our
language" ; regarding him as so far departing from all prec-
edent, "that few of his compositions resemble those of his
forerunners," and as establishing a precedent to all his
successors. ^^^ Again, Mr. Horder in his Hymn Lovcr,^'^^
calls Watts "the real founder of English Hymnody," and
claims that "what Ambrose was to the Latins ; what Clement
Marot was to the French ; what Luther was to the Germans ;
that, and perhaps more, was Watts to the English."
It is difficult to regard Watts, as Montgomery does, as
altogether or almost the inventor of English hymns; and
surely Mr. Horder has put Watts' work somewhat out of
perspective. Ambrose stands at the fountain head of all
metrical Congregational Song; and Sternhold, not Watts,
is the English sponsor of the movement to provide the
people with vernacular songs, which Luther and Marot
represent. When Watts wrote, great stores of metrical
"T/j^ Christian Psalmist, Glasgow, 1825, Introductory Essay, p. xx.
'"W. G. Horder, The Hymn Lover, London, n. d., p. 96.
2o6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Psalm versions had been accumulating for a century and a
half. Some passages from these Watts incorporated into
his own work : many more, equally available, lay ready to
his hand. Even the "Christianized" Psalms of Watts were
a development rather than a creation, as has already ap-
peared. Of hymns, in the narrower sense, there were many,
and of good hymns not a few. If Watts had lacked his
gift of hymn writing but retained his practical sagacity, he
could have compiled an English hymn book out of existing
materials, whose excellence would not be questioned today.
With Marckant, Austin, Wither, Cosin, Herbert, Tate,
Mason, Ken, Baxter, Herrick, Grossman and Stennett, still
holding a place in our hymn books, it is idle to regard Watts
as inventing the English Hymn.
It may even be that Watts could not write a better hymn
than Ken's Morning and Evening hymns, a more useful
Christmas hymn than Tate's "While shepherds watched,"
or a Sunday hymn with more of tender charm than Mason's
"My Lord, my Love, was crucified." But he could bring to
bear upon his hymn writing a discernment, and a combina-
tion of resources, spiritual, intellectual, poetic, utilitarian,
possessed by none of his predecessors or all of them if put
together. He was not alone in perceiving that an acceptable
evangelical Church Song was a spiritual need of his time,
but he had the ability to foresee, as other men could not, the
possibilities and limitations of the Congregational Hymn in
filling that need. With great assiduity he dedicated his
ample gifts to the embodiment of what he saw. He pro-
duced a whole cycle of religious song which his own ardent
faith made devotional, which his manly and lucid mind made
simple and strong, which his poetic feeling and craftman-
ship made rhythmical and often lyrical, and which his
sympathy with the people made hymnic. Probably the
whole body of his work appealed alike to the people of his
time, whose spiritual needs he so clearly apprehended. The
larger part of his work proved to be an abiding enrichment
of Church Song, and to many its only adequate expression.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 207
His best hymns remain permanently, after the winnowing
of two centuries, among the classics of devotion.
But Watts' work was more than an extensive reinforce-
ment of the stores of available hymns. By the force of its
very fitness it established a definite and permanent type of
English Hymn. And this type, rather than any particular
hymns, is the real expression of Watts' mind and purpose,
and constitutes his special discovery. Purposing to con-
struct Church Song anew, he sought for the true basis of a
sympathetic devotion. He found it not in a poet's mind, but
in the thoughts and feelings and aspirations held in common
by the largest number of Christians. That common ground
he selected as the available area of Congregational Song,
within which he sank his foundations, and proceeded to
erect his System of Praise on lines kept within the same
limits by careful measurement. By this criterion Watts'
work may be tried, both as to form and substance.
(a) As to Form. Watts invented no hymn measures,
but fell back upon the rudimentary forms of verse used in
psalm singing. In the original edition of his Hymns, he
confined himself to the three simplest and most often used
metres of the current Stcrnhold and Hopkins, — common,
long and short. In the second edition, he added the metre
of their 148th Psalm, — 6. 6. 6. 6. 4. 4. 4. 4. In The Psalms
imitated he rendered "some few Psalms in Stanza's of six,
eight or twelve lines, to the best of the old Tunes." He
sought no musical development of Congregational Song,
beyond a better rendering of the psalm tunes. He rather
accommodated himself to the conditions of musical decad-
ence surrounding him, with a view to immediate usefulness;
saying,^'*^ "I have seldom permitted a Stop in the middle of a
Line, and seldom left the end of a Line without one, to com-
port a little with the unhappy Mixture of Reading and
Singing, which cannot presently be reformed."
The Hymn Form thus indicated is even simpler and more
restricted than that of the earlier Metrical Psalm. But in
"'Preface of 1719, p. xxvii.
V
2o8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Watts' own hands the succession of rhythmic periods
acquires a dignity of cadence pecuHarly satisfying, and, with
his pure and nervous English, constitutes a hymn style in
pleasing contrast with the halting measures of Sternhold
and Hopkins and the rather rippling effects of Tate and
Brady. With his eye on the practical requirements of com-
mon song. Watts gave to the Hymn Form other features
that distinguish it from the formlessness of the Metrical
Psalm : — the adaptation of the opening line to make a quick
appeal, the singleness of theme that holds the attention
undivided, the brevity and compactness of structure and the
progression of thought toward a climax, that give the
Hymn a unity.
(b) As to Substance. The content of the Hymn, as
Watts conceived it, was Scriptural, as being a response to
Scripture. It was an evangelical interpretation of revealed
v' truths as appropriated by the believer. The adoration of
^ God in nature and providence being expressed in the Psalms,
the great theme of the Hymn proper became the Gospel in
the full width of its range, including man's deliverance from
the terrors of the law. The Hymn thus became primarily
^ an expression of Christian experience.
This raises the question whether Watts stands sponsor
for the homiletical ideal of the Hymn, as against the
liturgical. He was trained in that conception of worship
^ which the sermon and not the season dominates ; and plainly
he designed his hymns to meet the demand from the pulpit
for hymns that would illustrate and enforce the sermon
themes. This demand was undoubtedly one of the moving
causes in the change of Nonconformist Praise from
Psalmody to Hymnody, Granting that the sermon was
Scriptural, Watts' conception of the Hymn as a response
to Scripture made such an use of hymns natural ; and, grant-
ing that the minds and hearts of the people were centred in
the sermon, the homiletical use of hymns would not neces-
sarily interfere with the best interests of Congregational
Song.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 209
Whether for good or ill, there is no doubt that Watts,
both by his example in appending hymns to his own printed
sermons, and by supplying so many hymns adapted to being
appended to other people's sermons, greatly encouraged the
homiletical use of hymns. But his hymns are seldom homi-
lies, and they are made liturgical, in the broad sense of that
word, by confinement within the common ground of Chris-
tian experience and avoidance of individualism, whether
elevated or eccentric. They are filled also with reverence
and a deep sense of God's majesty and goodness, that evoke
a recurring note of adoration and praise. And, before com-
mitting Watts to the homiletical ideal of the Hymn, we
must remember that his own hymns were designed to be
used in connection with psalms as a single System of Praise.
In doctrine the hymns of Watts were Calvinistic in tone
and often in detail. This was not from any polemical intent,
but because Calvinism was the form of belief held in com-
mon by the writer and the singers. He aimed to avoid "the
more obscure and controverted Points of Christianity" and
"the Contentious and Distinguishing Words of Sects and
Parties . . , that whole Assemblies might assist at the
Harmony, and different Churches join in the same W^orship
without Offence." He held that in "Treatises of Divinity
which are to be read in private," precision of statement
should be aimed at, but that in hymns expressions should
be sought "such as are capable of an extensive Sense, and
may be used with a charitable Latitude. . . . that what is
provided for publick Worship shou'd give to sincere Con-
sciences as little Vexation and Disturbance as possible."^*^
This was no more than to carry into the sphere of belief
the same search for the common ground he had already
made in the sphere of experience. Watts lived long enough
to see the common ground of belief much narrowed by the
Arian movement, and to read the polemical Hymnody of
the Calvinistic controversy. And in the course of time
it has no doubt become impracticable for the Churches to
""Preface of 1707, pp. vii, viii.
v^
210 THE ENGLISH HYMN
confine their Hymnody to the things held in common.
Nevertheless there are but few today who would question
the soundness of the principle announced by Watts, or seek
to use the Hymn as a weapon of polemics rather than as a
bond of union.
Of Watts' determination to keep the Hymn within the
common ground in the sphere of the understanding, nothing
needs to be said, beyond noting his success in carrying out
that aim. His remarks upon the subject were in fact
addressed to literary critics, who he feared would misunder-
stand the purpose of his work. But in the aim itself there
was nothing really novel. It involved nothing more than
y loyalty to the Protestant principle that every part of public
worship should be conducted in a language understood by
the people.
VI
HIS INFLUENCE UPON HYMN WRITING:
THE SCHOOL OF WATTS
Upon the production of hymns also Dr. Watts' work
exercised a great influence, not wholly for good. The art
that hides art beneath apparent simplicity seems to the
observer to be the most imitable of all literary forms: and
a success so striking as that of Watts inevitably breeds
imitators. Moreover the reiterated assurances of Watts'
prefaces that his hymns were not poetry, but only measured
verse written down to the level of the meanest capacity, were
a distinct encouragement to many who could not write
poetry to believe they could write hymns. In this way
Watts' hymns became a direct model for the construction of
other hymns, and he became unconsciously the founder of
a school of hymn writers.
The five familiar hymns of Joseph Addison appeared in
The Spectator between July and October, 17 12, five years
after the publication of Watts' Hymns. When two had thus
appeared, there followed in the number for August 19, an
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 211
unsigned letter from Watts himself, alleging that the read-
ing of them had encouraged him to try his own hand, and
accompanied by a version of Psalm 114, afterwards in-
cluded in The Psalms imitated. Looking behind this pleas-
antry, we may infer the actual connection between the two
writers to be that Watts' example and influence had en-
couraged the older poet to write hymns. But Addison had
his own thoughts and style, and if an actual follower of
Watts in hymn writing, was no imitator of him, and was
not especially of his school.
The exact measure of Watts' influence upon the Wesleys
is not easily appraised. We know that when John Wesley
went on his mission to Georgia, he took with him the Psalms
and Hymns, and that in his first hymn book, printed at
Charleston in 1737, a large part of the contents is by Watts.
Some of his hymns found permanent place in the Wesleyan
books, and both brothers felt high admiration for them.
But other influences affected the Wesleys more deeply, and
are more evident in their original and translated work.
Watts served them by way of suggestion and encourage-
ment rather than as furnishing a model for their own
hymns.
With Watts' contemporary and friend. Dr. Doddridge,
it is different. His hymn writing was one of several lamps
"kindled at Watts' torch. ''^^'^ The hymns were homiletical
in motive, mostly intended to be sung in his own chapel at
the Castle Hill, Northampton, after the particular sermon
in the glow of whose composition they were composed.
After Doddridge's death 370 of the hymns were published
by his friend Job Orton, with quite superfluous notes, as
Hymns founded on various texts in the Holy Scriptures.
By the late Reverend Philip Doddridge, D.D. (Salop.
1755)- They reached a second edition in 1759, and a third
in 1766, with small additions. Many reprints followed and
the Hymns gained the place of a standard publication. The
book does not range technically with the "Supplements to
"'His Rise and Progress and Catechism in verse were others.
212 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Watts," but already in 1755 a letter of Mrs. Doddridge
speaks of numerous ministers intending to introduce it in
that capacit3%^'''" and such it actually became in fact. The
effect of it was to augment by so much the available body of
hymns of the Watts type, covering some new themes and
special occasions with hymns of decided merit and useful-
ness. Doddridge must be accounted first scholar in the
school of Watts. Chronologically he had been preceded
by Simon Browne. But Browne's hymns as a w^hole hardly
justified their existence, whereas Doddridge's constituted
a worthy extension of Watts', and the best of them attained
a position to be described as classical.
Dr. Thomas Gibbons, the next in the succession of Inde-
pendent hymn writers, took his impulse from Watts, with-
out sharing Watts' gift. Nor could he succeed in getting
either of his collections already referred to into the churches.
The earlier one has, however, the special interest of con-
taining the hymns of his friend President Davies of Prince-
ton, whose Mss. had come into Gibbons' hands. And
President Davies' hymns remain as an interesting testimony
of how far Watts' influence had spread. They attained
wider liturgical use than those of Gibbons, and at least two
of them^^''^ have proved permanently useful. But in the
work of both writers we can detect the beginnings of that
process which perpetuates the form and manner of a literary
type apart from its original inspiration. Neither Watts
nor Doddridge had been free from a tendency to prosaic
dullness, and at the weaker hands of their imitators this
tendency found a marked development.
The most popular, after Watts, of XVIIIth century Inde-
pendent hymn-writers, was Joseph Hart, who is usually
reckoned a disciple of the school of Watts. He published
""John Stoughton, Philip Doddridge, ed. Boston, 1853, p. 120, note.
"'These are "Lord, I am thine, entirely thine," and "Great God of
Wonders ! all thy Ways." For a reprint of Davies' hymns and a
study of them by the present writer, see Journal of The Presbyterian
Historical Society for Sept. and Dec, 1904.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 213
in 1759 (119) Hymns composed on z'arious subjects, 7vifh
the Author's experience, to which later supplements added
some hundred more. They were introduced in his own
chapel in Jewin Street. London, with immediate acceptance,
and gained a wide use among Calvinistic Nonconformists
of different connections. Repeated editions were called for,
and their reprinting has continued till the present time. An
inspection of these hymns makes it evident that Hart was
not of Watts' school. His work addresses a lower plane of
education and taste than Watts, with his eminently respect-
able surroundings, had in mind. Moreover a congregation
bred to sing only psalms and hymns of the Watts type could
not have carried these strange measures, which were fitted
to the melodies of the Methodist Revival. These warm and
even passionate strains are explained by Hart's associations
with the Moravians, in one of whose chapels he was con-
verted, and these new measures he learned in his attendance
at the Tabernacle at Moorfields. Hart belongs rather with
that evangelistic movement, with which, whether Calvinistic
or Arminian, Watts had little sympathy.
On the Baptist side of Independency also, Watts became
a controlling influence. We have already traced the begin-
nings of a Particular Baptist Hymnody down to Stennett's
Hymns for the Holy Ordinance of Baptism of 1712. Then
followed a breach in Baptist hymn making. In the thirty-
seven years following, the silence was broken only by two
faint voices. In 1734 Mrs. Anne Button appended a group
of hymns to her poem on The Wonders of Grace, and in
1747 Daniel Turner of Reading published Divine Songs,
Hymns and other Poems}^^
The year 1750 begins a new period in Baptist hymn writ-
ing, but it is a Hymnody of the school of Watts. Ben-
jamin Wallin's Evangelical Hymns and Songs of that year
counted for something, but two volumes of Poems on
subjects chiefly devotional, by Theodosia (Bristol, 1760)
'"Turner is best known through his enlargement (pub. 1794) oi
Jas. Fanch's "Beyond the glittering starry skies."
214 THE ENGLISH HYMN
counted for much. The hymns of Anne Steele appearing
thus, and in a posthumous third volume (Bristol, 1780),
were framed on the familiar model, but added a new note
to the contents of the English Hymn. Exchanging the
common ground for the feminine standpoint, she gave us
the Hymn of Introspection and of intense devotion to
Christ's person, expressed in fervid terms of heightened
emotion. Composing under the shadow of affliction and ill-
health, she added to English Hymnody the plaintive, senti-
mental note.
A number of these hymns remain in common use, and
Miss Steele is still regarded as the foremost Baptist hymn
writer. But the measure of our regard for her hymns
reflects but faintly the enthusiasm of their welcome. Those
concerned for a Baptist Hymnody soon perceived that a
great light had arisen among themselves : it had become
practicable to consider the compilation of denominational
hymn books to supplement Watts. Through these, already
noted, her hymns became known in all English Churches;
and through reprints of these and also a Boston reprint of
her poems, ^^^ they became eventually familiar in America.
So far reaching and so deep was the impression made by
Miss Steele that when Jeremy Belknap published his Sacred
Poetry at Boston, 1795, he was moved to include her hymns
to an extent justifying him in devoting nearly half of his
preface to a biographical sketch of her. And when the
people of Trinity Church, Boston, grew weary of the
authorized Psalmody, and the vestry ventured in 1808 to
print a parochial hymn book, 59 of its 152 hymns are Miss
Steele's; a tribute, as the preface explains, "to her poetical
superiority, and to the ardent spirit of devotion which
breathes in her compositions." It is easy to understand that
the depth and sincerity of feeling in Miss Steele's hymns
made Tate and Brady and even Watts seem cold. But in
the course of time it has become plain to many that those
''"^The Works of Mrs. Anne Steele, Boston, 1808, 2 vols., i6mo.
(a reprint of the English ed. of 1780). "Mrs." was a courtesy title.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 215
of her hymns that were most closely patterned on Watts
were also those best adapted to congregational use.
There were now practical inducements for hymn writing,
and the years from 1760 till towards the close of the
XVIIIth century constitute what is still the only very sig-
nificant era of Baptist Hymnody. Miss Steele was fol-
lowed in 1768 by John Needham of Bristol, whose Hymns
devotional and moral on various subjects added 263 to the
available store, but added nothing in the way of advance
on his great model. Dr. Watts, whom he closely imitated.
At the West, Benjamin Beddome was producing a weekly
hymn for use after his sermon at Bourton. Some of these
appeared in Baptist hymn books during his life, and in
18 1 7 no less than 830 were gathered up by Robert Hall as
Hymns adapted to public worship or family dcz'otion, now
first published from the manuscripts of the late Rev. B.
Beddome, M.A. In merit and in actual use Beddome stands
beside Miss Steele. During the same period John Ryland
of Northampton was contributing hymns to The Gospel
Magazine and to current hymn books. John Fellows printed
his Hymns on Believers' Baptism in 1773 and Hymns in a
great variety of metres in 1776. John Fawcett published
in 1782 his Hymns adapted to tJie circumstances of public
worship and private devotion (Leeds). Richard Burnham
l^egan to publish his New Hymns in 1783, and Samuel
Medley gathered into several volumes, beginning with 1785,
his hymns that had appeared in leaflets and periodicals.
The hymns of Samuel Stennett were contributed to Rippon's
Selection of 1787. And we may close the list with the
Walworth Hymns of Joseph Swain (London, 1792), who
could follow the traditional model as well as any, but
had also a distinct gift for a somewhat freer spiritual
song. All of these men are still of some interest to the
student of English hymns : they contributed to the per-
manent body of Evangelical Hymnody, and retain a minor
place in current hymnals. Such as they were, they, with
Miss Steele, represent the golden age of Baptist Hymnody,
2i6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
and serve to show how it shone with a hght reBected from
the person and work of Dr. Watts.
Beyond the bounds of Independency his influence is just
as apparent in the hymn writers of the later Presbyterian
and Unitarian group, of whom Joseph Grigg and Mrs. Bar-
bauld are most famihar; and in Scotland in the work of
Ralph Erskine and the writers of the Translations and Para-
phrases. Indeed the whole history of English hymn writing
points back to the fact that Watts established once for all a
definite type of Hymn. Partly because of its essential
fitness, and partly from the accident of its furnishing a
mould which is the easiest to fill out, it has happened that
from his time till ours the work of hymn writers without
special force or inspiration of their own has tended to
revert to the original model.
VII
HIS INFLUENCE UPON HYMN SINGING
After all, the Hymn is intended to be sung. The Hymn
Form and the writing of hymns have little significance apart
from hymn singing. And it is so with the work of Dr.
Watts. Whatever importance be attached to his influence
upon the ideal of the English Hymn and upon hymn compo-
sition, any final estimate of his place in Hymnody must be
based upon the record of his success in getting his hymns
sung. For that was the sum of his achievement. His
greatest influence, that is to say, lay in his undoubted leader-
ship in the establishment and extension of hymn singing
as a part of congregational worship in the stead of the
ordinance of psalm singing maintained since the Reforma-
tion.
We have already said that he may not be regarded as the
"Inventor of the English Hymn." It is equally true that he
cannot with strict accuracy be called the founder of the
ordinance of hymn singing in our English-speaking
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" ji;
Churches. The Restoration Movement toward hymn sing-
ing cannot justly be ignored, any more than the early hymn
writers can be overlooked. Hymn singing had begun
before Watts, and hymn books were in use before the
publication of his. Nevertheless it is his figure that stands
out against the deplorable conditions of Psalmody at the
beginning of the XVHIth century. He does not stand
alone, but his personality commands the situation, his mind
plans the remedy purely from personal resources, and his
strong will overcomes the force of tradition, of conviction,
of sacred associations, of habit, of prejudice, and, not least,
of indifference. The aggressiveness and even bitterness of
tone assumed by Watts in his prefaces and treatise on
Psalmody, standing in contrast to his habitual moderation,
mark his method of a deliberate attack upon the position
of the psalm singers; to whom indeed some things therein
said seemed little short of blasphemous. He raised the issue
squarely of Hymn against Psalm. While The Psalms
imitated did actually serve as a bridge over which numerous
psalm singers crossed almost unconsciously into Hymnody,
Watts himself did not offer them as a compromise or half
way measure, but only as a supplement to his Hymns, first
published, and followed by the Psalms after an interval of
twelve years.
This assault upon the Metrical Psalm might have counted
for little, might indeed have proved a destructive influence,
i f Watts had not been able to replace the overthrown Psalm-
ody with a Hymnody that satisfied the religious sentiment
more completely, and yet retained a sufficiency of the
familiar form and tone of the accustomed psalm. The num-
ber of those who read Watts' arguments against Metrical
Psalmody was limited, though his views were widely spread
for at least a century by means of debates and "Psalmody
sermons." But to a multitude of devout hearts the evan-
gelical Psalms and Hymns in themselves furnished an incon-
trovertible argument against a longer continuance in the old
Psalmody. It is this wonderful adaptation of Watts'
2i8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
System of Praise to meet the situation and to change it
that gives it some consideration to be regarded as a work
of genius.
The full scope of Dr. Watts' personal agency in the move-
ment which has transformed all but a comparatively insig-
nificant minority of English-speaking Churches from psalm
singing into hymn singing Churches, it is impossible to
estimate. His more immediate influence was confined to
the Nonconformist Churches of England and to Churches
of corresponding type in America; and even in these oper-
ated more slowly than is sometimes imagined. Watts had
many friends and admirers in the Church of England, and
among them not a few who would gladly have witnessed
the introduction of his System of Praise. But as against
Anglican tradition his influence was immediately ineffective.
Upon the unchurched masses whom the Wesleys reached
with their preaching and hymns, Watts had no influence,
and for them a quite moderate degree of concern. When
we set the Watts movement against the two other XVHIth
century movements, that were to introduce hymn singing
among the unchurched and into the Church of England
respectively, the two features that stand out are : — first,
that the priority lay with Watts, and that his influence to
an undetermined extent permeated the others : and second,
that while the two other movements were connected with
revivals and dependent upon stimulated emotions, the move-
ment inaugurated by Watts was not in intent revivalistic,
but purely liturgical, a sober and deliberate undertaking for
the "Renovation of Psalmody" in the ordinary worship of
the Church.
CHAPTER V
THE HYMNODY OF THE METHODIST REVIVAL
ITS ANTECEDENTS AND BEGINNINGS
(1721-1738)
I. John Wesley Aims to Uplift Parochial Psalmody
During the early decades of the XVIIIth century the
Hymns and The Psalms imitated of Watts were gradually
but surely replacing the older metrical psalms in the Non-
conformist churches of England, and establishing them-
selves there as the norm of Congregational Praise. In
the parish churches, on the other hand, the use of hymns of
any sort was sporadic and occasional, while the singing of
metrical psalms was the universal practice. In the country-
side and villages the Old Version of Sternhold and Hop-
kins was still used, but in London and a few towns, the
Nezv Version of Tate and Brady was beginning to get a
hearing. The hymns of Watts had given a new spiritual
interest to congregational song in the chapels which the
New Version failed to impart to that of the city churches
introducing it. But in church and chapel alike the clinging
to the old custom of lining out the psalm and the dull and
drawling rendering of the notes emphasized the continued
indifference to the musical side of Psalmody. In London
churches a disposition was manifesting itself to relegate
the singing altogether to a choir made up of "charity
children" or such others as were available.
Such were the conditions of Congregational Song at the
beginning of the Methodist Movement within the Church
of England toward the middle of the century. In connec-
219
220 THE ENGLISH HYMN
tioii with this Movement, the singing of hymns gained not
only a great extension but also a quite new power and
import. It recovered the emotional fervor of the first sing-
ing of vernacular psalms by the Huguenots, and repeated
the spiritual triumphs of the Reformation Psalmody. In
the same connection the English Hymn itself acquired a
new development in several directions, and Hymnody was
permanently enriched by a large body of available hymns,
many of which remain in present use, and some of which
attain the highest rank.
The leader who played the part in Methodist Hymnody
which Calvin had taken in Huguenot Psalmody was, con-
trary perhaps to the general impression, John Wesley and
not his brother Charles. He planned it, prepared the
ground, introduced and fostered it, moulded and adminis-
tered it, and also restrained its excesses. But Charles Wes-
ley, by reason of the bulk and quality of his contributions
to the new Hymnody, became distinctively the Poet of
Methodism ; and indeed contests with Watts the first place
as a writer of English hymns. In the matter of dates and
precedence it is convenient to remember that Charles Wesley
was born at the Ep worth rectory in 1707,^ the very year
of publication of Watts' Hymns; his brother John four and
a half years earlier. John Wesley published his first hymn
book in 1737, eighteen years after Watts had completed his
System of Praise with the publication of TJie Psalms of
David imitated in 17 19. And two years later Charles printed
his first hymns.
There was much in the inheritance and early training of
the Wesley brothers which explains their interest in Hym-
nody, and which prepared them for their great work in it.
There was. to begin with, in both a strong inherited bent
toward poetry and the poetic expression of feeling. Samuel
Wesley, the father, printed a volume of his verses {Maggots,
'December i8th, Old Style. For the discussion as to year see
John Telford, The Life of Charles Wesley, rev. ed., London, 1900,
pp. 19, 20.
IIYAINODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 221
1685) before leaving Oxford, and followed it with a series
of later poems of which The Life of our Blessed Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ (1693) is best known. Careless and
too voluminous, these works are yet not wanting in imagina-
tive and forceful expression. In the Psalm versions ap-
pended to his The pious communicant rightly prepared
(1700), and elsewhere, Samuel Wesley showed himself
as by no means an incapable hymn writer.^ It was no acci-
dent that five of his children, Samuel, Jr.,^ John, Charles,
Emilia, and Mehetabel, exhibited in varying degrees the
poetic gift, and cultivated the art of verse. We find the
father in 1706 recommending his son Samuel to make
"translations of the Bible into verse" in the effort to recon-
cile fancy and devotion; and in 1725 approving verses on
the 85th Psalm by his son John, who was then contemplat-
ing an entrance into holy orders.*
It may be added that the children of Epworth rectory
were trained to social singing of psalms, and apparently of
hymns, in the family circle ; a somewhat unusual custom at
the time, the neglect of which Samuel Wesley attributed to
the general decay of piety and the uninteresting character
of the Psalm versions and of their tunes. ^ The attitude of
the Epworth household toward current Church of England
Psalmody was the same that Watts had taken toward Non-
conformist Psalmody. Before Watts' Hymns appeared,
Samuel Wesley wrote to his son Samuel of the "sorry
Sternhold Psalms,"^ and in a paper in the Athenian Oracle
"One of his hymns, "Behold the Saviour of Mankind," still has place
in the Methodist hymn books of England and America. In the first
impressions of the Dunciad (1728), Pope pilloried S. Wesley along
with Watts; both names being afterwards erased, perhaps owing to
protestations from without. Cf. Geo. J. Stevenson, Memorials of the
Wesley Family, London [1876], p. 68.
*Two of his hymns are retained in the English Methodist Hymn
Book.
*L. Tyerman, Life and Times of Samuel Wesley, London, 1866,
pp. 311, 392.
^Ibid., p. 311.
'^Ibid., p. 310.
s
222 THE ENGLISH HYMN
y^omplains that most of the psalm tunes are so vile that even
Orpheus could not make good music of them. He describes
the usual rendering of the psalms as "the reading them at
such a lame rate, tearing them limb from limb, and leaving
sense, cadency, and all at the mercy of the clerk's nose."^
n his Advice to a young Clergyman, referring to efforts
to improve the singing at Epworth Church, he attributes the
preference of the common people for Sternhold and Hop-
kins' version over that of Tate and Brady to their "strange
genius at understanding nonsense." ^
""'" John Wesley, in his turn, ridiculed the Psalmody of the
town churches as "the miserable, scandalous doggerel of
Sternhold and Hopkins" ; at first droned out, two staves at
a time, by "a poor humdrum wretch," and then "bawled
out" "by a handful of wild, unawakened striplings" "who
neither feel nor understand" what they "scream," while
the congregation is "lolling at ease, or in the indecent pos-
\ture of sitting, drawling out one word after another."*
Our particular concern with these passages is in their
exhibition of the young Wesleys as already in the accus-
tomed exercise of social Psalmody, and of John especially
as deeply moved by the degraded conditions of parochial
Psalmody. For it was their love of social Psalmody that
made Methodist Hymnody what it was, and it was the desire
to better parochial Psalmody that furnished John Wesley
with the original motive of his work in Hymnody.
The social singing of psalms and hymns passed naturally
from the Epworth rectory to the meetings of the Holy Club
that Charles Wesley founded at Oxford in the spring of
1729, for the cultivation of method in study, devotion and
good works, ^^ and of which John became the leader on
his return to Oxford in November of the same year, John
'Ibid., pp. 311, 312.
"Thos. Jackson, Life of Charles Wesley, London, 1841, vol. ii, p. 509.
"L. Tyerman, Life and Times of John Wesley, 5th ed., London,
1880, vol. ii, pp. 282, 283.
^'' "This gained me the harmless name of Methodist." Chas. Wesley
to Chandler (28 April, 1785).
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 223
was an admiring reader of Dr. Watts^^ and of course
familiar with Watts' work in Hymnody; and, in view of
Wesley's later dealings with them, we may infer that Watts'
Psalms and Hymns, in connection perhaps with Tate and
Brady's New Version, furnished the materials for the sing-
ing of the Holy Club.^^
2. The Moravians Reveal to Him the Spiritual:
Potentiality of the Hymn
When John Wesley determined on the missionary life,
and on October 14, 1735, embarked for the new colony of
Georgia, he was accompanied by his brother Charles^"^ and
Benjamin Ingham; they being three out of thirteen Oxford
"Methodists." And Wesley's account of their common life
on board the "Simmons" reads much like a protracted meet-
ing of the Holy Club. The minds of both brothers had
come under the influence of Tauler, Law, and other mystical
divines, but both were Anglican clergymen of the severe
high church type. They aimed at a devotional and church
life that was "primitive," and were scrupulous in the ob-
servance of rites and ceremonies, the weekly fasts and
Eucharist, and Baptism by trine immersion; and were of a
spirit too intolerant for missionary success.^ ^
^^The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., ed. by Nehemiah
Curnock, standard ed., London and New York, n. d., vol. i, p. 139, note.
This edition of the famous Journal, with its decipherment of the
imprinted Diaries, is indispensable to understanding the development
of Wesley's mind and work in Hymnody as in other directions.
''^C/. Journal, vol. i, p. 243, note.
"Though Charles went as secretary to Governor Oglethorpe, he
was ordained just before starting, that he might officiate in the colo-
nies. Diet, of Nat. Biography, art "Chas. Wesley" ; Thos. Jackson,
IJfe of Charles Wesley, London, 1841, vol. i, p. 44.
"The claim of some modern Anglicans that the Wesleys were high
churchmen is successful enough as to this early period of their lives
(1725-1738), and within those limits freely admitted by Methodist
writers. Cf. Jas. H. Rigg, The ChurcHmanship of John M-^esley, rev.
ed., London [1887], "chap, ii, Period of ritualistic high churchman-
ship." For a more carefully discriminating statement, see Journal,
vol. i, p. 167, note.
224 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Wesley's kit included a considerable collection of books.
Among them were some that became the sources of Wes-
leyan Hymnody : Tate and Brady's New Version of the
Psalms, and apparently the Supplement, with its tunes;
Watts' Psalms and Hymns; George Herbert's Poems;
Hickes' edition of Devotions in the ancient ivay of Offices,
containing John Austin's hymns ; the Diz'ine Dialogues
zvith Diz'ine Hymns of Henry More; Dean Brevint's Chris-
tian Sacrament and Sacrifice; and some of the works of
Norris of Bemerton. Hymns by others, including his
father and brother Samuel, were among his manuscript
materials.
The brothers had as fellow-voyagers twenty-six German
Moravian colonists, with their new bishop, David Nitsch-
mann. The Moravians made much of hymn singing on
board in all weathers, and in the stress of storm it became
the characteristic expression of an unrufifled faith.^^ On
the third day John Wesley began the study of German,
"in order to converse with" the Moravians, and soon took
part in their daily worship.^ ^
This intercourse with the Germans marks the beginning
of Moravian influence upon the spiritual life of both Wes-
leys, and was to have a marked effect on Wesleyan Hym-
nody. Its immediate effect was to make an indelible
impression of the spiritual possibilities of the Hymn and
of a fervid type of hymn singing far removed from the
dull parochial Psalmody or congregational praise of Non-
conformist chapels. The fervor and spontaneity of this
Moravian song was ultimately to be reproduced in the hymn
singing of Methodist meetings. A secondary effect was
to turn John Wesley to the study of the German Moravian
Hymnody, and to set him to the making of English trans-
lations.^^ The Journal for October 27, 1735, has the entry,
^''Journal, vol. i, p. 142.
"'Ibid., vol. i, pp. no, 113.
''C/. Sermon cxxi in The Works of John Wesley, ed. New York,
1831, vol. ii, p. 443.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 225
"Began Gesang-Buch." This has been identified'^ as the
first of the hymn books for the congregation at Herrnhut,
pubHshed that same year by Count Zinzendorf : Das Gesang-
Buch dcr Gcmcinc in Herrnhut. Wesley had also access,
either on shipboard or in Georgia, to the pietistic hymn
books of Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, Gcist-reiches
Gcsang-BucJi, den Kern alter und neiier Lieder, &c. (Halle,
1704), and its second part, Neues Geist-reiches Gesang-
Buch, &.C., appearing in 1714.'^ These became the German
sources of the Wesleyan Hymnody, and are of decided
import.
3. He makes Hymn Books as a Missionary, and as an
Associate of Moravians
One of the disclosures of Wesley's newly deciphered
diary is the grip which hymns took upon his mind and
heart, when once he had caught the fervor of Moravian
Hymnody; the share of his daily life given over to hymn
singing; his assiduous study of hymns, sometimes continu-
ing through the working hours of successive days. The
English Hymn, that had found so capable a tutor as Watts,
had been waiting for so devoted a lover as Wesley. He
at once began, and pursued with extraordinary carefulness,
the selection, revision, translation and composition of
hymns for the varied uses of his American ministrations.
He introduced hymn singing into those "companies" formed
at Savannah and Frederica, which were the prototype of the
Methodist "society,""*^ and even into the Sunday church
services. In the list of grievances against Wesley presented
by the Grand Jury for Savannah in August, 1737, the first
was his alterations of the authorized metrical psalms, and
^^Jonrnal, vol. ii, p. 6.
"The two parts, combined into one under the title of the first, by
G. A. Francke, appearing at Halle in 1741, remain the best expression
of the Hymnody of the Pietistic Revival, from which the Methodist
Revival drew not only some of its hymns but also some of its earliest
tunes.
'"Journal, vol i, pp. 228, 229.
226 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the second his "introducing into the church and service at
the Altar compositions of psahns and hymns not inspected
or authorized by any proper judicature."-^
These psalms and hymns were at first a manuscript col-
lection,^- and Wesley tested them by repeated readings and
discussions with friends, as well as in the sick-room and in
social devotions.-^ He then arranged with Lewis Timothy
of Charleston to print a selection of them.^^
This, Wesley's first hymn book, appeared as Collection
of Psalms and Hymns. Charles-town, 1737, without his
name; a roughly printed little volume of 74 pages. ^^ Of
its pieces, numbered as 70, one half are from Watts, 7 from
John Austin, 6 adapted from George Herbert, 2 from
Addison; and the Wesleys are represented by 15: — 5 of
Samuel, Sr., 5 of Samuel, Jr., and 5 translated from the
German by John himself. There is none by Charles
Wesley,^^ who had returned to England. The pieces are
grouped in three divisions, as "Psalms and Hymns for
Sunday" (hymns of general praise) ; "for Wednesday or
Friday" (suitable for fast days) ; and "for Saturday"
(hymns especially addressed to God as the Creator of all
things). Beyond the "primitive usage" recognized in this
grouping, there is little or nothing to suggest high church
views, and no provision for festivals or sacraments. The
outstanding feature of the collection is indeed the submis-
^'Ihid., vol. i, p. 385.
'"Ibid., vol. i, p. 230 n.
^^Ibid., vol. i, pp. 243, 259, 269 n.
"Ibid., vol. i, pp. 257 n., 275, 347. Wesley was reading the proofs
in April, 1737 : p. 349-
^''Long lost to sight, it was reprinted (though not in facsimile as
stated) by Dr. George Osborn in 1882, from what was supposed to be
the only surviving copy. For the history of this copy, see Rev. R.
Green, The Works of John and Charles Wesley: a Bibliography,
London, 1896, p. 12, and additional note in the 2nd ed., 1906, p. i.
There is another copy in the Lenox Collection of the New York
Public Library.
""Probably the explanation is that ". . . his Mss. were not at his
brother's disposal." A. E. Gregory, The Hymn-book of the Modern
Church, London, 1904, p. 156.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 227
sion of Wesley's churchliness to his good judgment in giving
the foremost place to Dr. Watts, the dissenter.
Wesley reached England, on his return, on February i,
1738; bringing from Georgia a sense of spiritual and minis-
terial defeat. He came into close affiliation with Londcm
Moravians, and, under Peter Bohler's advice, he, with his
brother Charles and others, formed "our little society" on
May I, 1738, at the home and book-shop of James Hutton.
It afterwards removed to Fetter Lane, and, though in con-
nection with the Church of England, became the nucleus
both of organized Methodism and of organized English
Moravianism.^'
It was no doubt for the use of this, and like societies at
Bristol and Oxford,-^ that John Wesley printed, without
editor's or publisher's name, his second hymn book : A Col-
lection of Psalms and Hymns. London: printed in the
year ly^S.^^ The little book is eclectic. The threefold
grouping of the h3'mns, intended to represent the usage of
"antiquity," is retained from the 1737 book. Watts still
leads, with 36 numbers out of a total of 76. The Church
Psalmody is represented by 16 of Tate and Brady's ver-
sions; the Prayer Book by the Veni Creator; and Bishop
Ken's three hymns may be included with these. Mysticism
is represented by four selections from Norris of Bemerton,
and Moravianism by four translations from the Hernihut
collection; English poetry by Herbert, Dryden, Addison
and Roscommon.
With this little book, the earlier and preparatory stages
of Wesley's work for Hymnody are brought to a close.
Its contents illustrate and embody most of the influences
that played upon Methodist Hymnody or became its
sources; except indeed that it contained nothing of the work
"''Journal, vol. i, p. 458.
^7&frf., vol. i, p. 458.
^'The only known copies are in the Didsbury College Library and
the Archepiscopal Library at Lambeth. There is a full description
of its contents in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley,
ed. by G. Osborn [13 vols.], London, 1868 seq., vol. ii, pp. 35-42.
228 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of Wesley's father and brothers; of Charles, notably, whose
great gift waited for the deepening of his spiritual experi-
ence and the inspiration he drew from the stirring scenes
of the coming revival.
II
THE METHODIST HYMNODY (1739-1904)
I. The "Movement,'' and Charles Wesley as Its Poet
While living in London, in close association with Mora-
vians and under their influence, the Wesleys passed through
those remarkable spiritual experiences which brought to
both the rest and joy of faith, and determined their future
careers. Charles dated his evangelical conversion as on
Whitsunday (May 21), 1738; John his as on the Wednes-
day following (May 24).
Charles began at once to proclaim his new hope to such
friends as would hear him, and to preach in the churches,
as long as they would receive him. In the summer of 1739
he entered that itinerant ministry, in Whitefield's way, that
during seventeen years carried him through England and
Wales, and twice into Ireland. John first visited the Mora-
vians at Herrnhut. Returning in September, 1738, he
found his immediate sphere in the "Religious Societies,"
more or less Moravian in complexion, which in London
and elsewhere supplemented the Church services with less
formal devotions. To these meetings he preached his new
way of "saving-faith" ; teaching them to sing the hymns he
had gathered and translated. The first word in his resumed
diary, under the date of September 20, 1738, is "Singing. "^^
In the spring of 1739 he went to Bristol at Whitefield's
entreaty, to carry on the work already begun there, and on
May 12 laid the corner-stone of "The New Room," really
the first Methodist Chapel. Late in the same year he
^"Journal, vol. ii, p. 75; and see p. 71, note.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 229
founded at London his own "United Society," and on
November 1 1 first preached in the disused King's Foundery
in Moorfields, which, purchased and refitted, became the
headquarters of Methodism. From this year Wesley
ordinarily counted the foundation of the Methodist So-
cieties.
In this memorable year appeared the third of the Wes-
leyan hymn collections, the first to bear the name of either
brother, as Hymns and sacred Poems. Published by John
Wesley, M.A. Fellozv of Lincoln College, Oxford; and
Charles Wesley, M.A. Student of Christ -Church, Oxford.
[Colossians iii. 16]. London: printed by IVilliam Strahan;
and sold by James Hutfon, Bookseller, at the Bible and
Sun, without Temple-Bar; and at Mr. Bray's, a Brader in
Little-Britain. MDCCXXXIX. Of this there were three
editions within the year, and two subsequently.^^ Its con-
tents are in two parts, containing 64 and 75 pieces, some
of them hymns for singing, and some poems for reading.
No less than 42 are adaptations from George Herbert, and
there are 22 of Wesley's renderings from the German.
Some '-Verses" were included which 'Svere wrote upon the
Scheme of the Mystick Divines," and the preface of eight
pages is largely devoted to a renunciation and exposure of
their errors.
This book reflects the spiritual experiences of the year,
and is itself memorable as the first printing of hymns from
Charles Wesley's pen. The second part opens with a hymn
beginning, "Where shall my wand'ring Soul begin?" This
is probably the hymn he commenced the day after his con-
version, broken off "for fear of pride," but finished under
the encouragement of Bray the mechanic, and sung with
"great joy" when, on the Wednesday evening, John, came
to announce his own faith in Christ.^^ It was thus the first
hymn of the Methodist Revival. Toward the close of the
volume appeared the fine group of festival hymns which
"Green, Bibliography, p. 15.
"Chas. Wesley's Diary, May 23, 24, 1738.
230 THE ENGLISH HYMN
afterwards helped to recommend hymns to the Church of
England.^^
Charles Wesley had written hymns already, but with his
new experience the fountain of spiritual song opened
within, which was never to fail him. Thenceforward he
became distinctively the poet of the new Movement, and
poured forth psalms and hymns in a stream uninterrupted
until his death. But his hymns did not come from the
cloisters. In the early years of the Revival, he was as
active and ardent an evangelist as John himself. "He
loved the stir, the tumult, the triumph of those great out-
door gatherings, where testimony must be borne before
mobs which might at any time endanger the property and
even the lives of preacher and hearers . . . [He] was
moved to his highest flights of praise by hard-won victories
amongst his wild hearers in Cornwall, or Moorfields, at
Kingswood, or Walsall. "^^ The composition of the hymns
was thus closely related to the progress of the Revival,
which they in turn did much to foster; and the long series
of books and tracts in which they appeared are an essential
part of the Revival records.
The poetical publications of John and Charles Wesley,
jointly or separately, cover a period of fifty-three years, and
number fifty-six (excluding tune-books) ; and the contents
of not less than thirty-six of these are exclusively original,
with much original work appearing in the collective
volumes. The majority appeared without name of author
or editor; eight under John's name, three under Charles',
and six under their joint names.^^
'"'Hark how all the Welkin rings" (Christmas-Day) ; "Sons of Men,
behold from far" (Epiphany); "'Christ the Lord is ris'n to Day'"
(Easter-Day) ; "Hail the Day that sees Him rise" (Ascension-Day) ;
"Granted is the Saviour's Prayer" (Whitsunday).
'^Gregory, The Hymn Book of the Modern Church, p. i6o.
'"Of the numerous short-lists of these publications, none seems to
be both accurate and complete. The best bibliography is Green's : and
he contributed to Telford's The Methodist Hymn Book illustrated
(2nd ed. rev., London, n. d. [1909], pp. 497 fif.) a convenient list of the
works in which the hymns therein included first appeared.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 231
The custom afterward grew up of ascribing to Charles
Wesley's pen not only the hymns published under his name
but also all those published under the joint names or anony-
mously, excepting only the translations and very few origi-
nals admittedly written by John. Such a conclusion never
rested on solid ground, and is gradually yielding to the
conviction that John's share in the hymn writing was
greater than had been supposed; a conviction which the
recently published notes of his diary tend to strengthen.
The editors of the Wesleyan Methodist hymn book of 1875
went so far as to affix merely the letter "W" to "those
hymns which first appeared in publications for which the
Wesleys were jointly responsible" (including "Jesu, Lover
of my Soul" under this category) ; on the ground that "it
cannot be determined with certainty to which of the two
brothers a hymn should be ascribed. "^^ This course proved
very unwelcome to Methodists,^^ and has since been de-
parted from. But the uncertainty remains none the less.
There is some evidence that the brothers agreed not to
distinguish their several contributions of the hymns pub-
lished jointly.^^ It is however to be noted that this uncer-
tainty pertains chiefly to the early publications, and that as
the Revival progressed, John grew content to leave the
hymn writing to his brother, and also that, in giving its
permanent form to Methodist Hymnody, he admitted that
"but a small part of these hymns is of my own com-
posing."^^
The brothers cooperated again in a second collection of
Hymns and sacred Poems, 1740. Its title-page, barring
the date, is identical with that of 1739, with whose later
editions it was incorporated. It added to English Hym-
^"Note prefixed to "Index to the Hymns."
''See Telford, The Mcth. Hy. Bk. illus., p. 12.
^See David Creamer, Methodist Hymnology, New York, 1848, p.
18; Osborn, The Poetical Works, vol. viii, p. xv.
'"John Wesley's preface to the Large Hymn Book of 1780. On the
whole subject consult Osborn, The Poetical Works, vol. viii, pp. 15, 16;
Telford, Meth. Hy. Bk. illus., pp. 8-12; Journal, vol. i, p. 477, note.
2Z2 THE ENGLISH HYMN
nody three famous hymns, usually ascribed to Charles
Wesley: "Jesu, Lover of my Soul," "O for a thousand
tongues to sing," and "Christ, whose glory fills the skies."
While not formally a hymn book for the societies, this,
with the 1739 volume, contributed not less than 100 hymns
to the permanent Methodist Hymnody. Its contents are
distinctively Methodist. The preface sets forth Wesley's
doctrine of Christian Perfection. There is a "Hymn for
the Kingswood Colliers," one "To be sung in a Tumult,"
one "On admission of any person into the Society," and a
group on "The Love-Feast." Wesley had taken an impas-
sioned stand against the doctrine of Election in a sermon
published as Free Grace in the autumn of 1739, after
Whitefield had gone to America. Appended was a long
hymn on "Universal Redemption." This hymn, with an-
other, on the same theme, were now included in the new
book, adding to the great offense already taken by White-
field.'**^ The sermon and the hymn led to the separation
of the Revival forces into two camps, the Calvinistic under
Whitefield, the Arminian under Wesley, to the organization
of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion and of Calvinistic Meth-
odism in Wales. ^^
In deep depression at the defection from the inmost circle
and the consequent confusions, the Wesleys printed at
Bristol early in 1741, and then in London, a tractate of
eighteen hymns, as Hymns on God's everlasting love. To
which is added the cry of a reprobate, and the Horrible
Decree, followed by a second tractate with the same title ;
the two being afterwards combined. The hymns mingle
most tender appeals with scathing satire of the doctrines
of the opposition, described as "hellish" and "satanic," and
^""My dear, dear Brethren, — Why did you throw out the bone of
contention : Why did you print that sermon against predestination ?
Why did you, in particular, my dear brother Charles, affix your hymn,
and join in putting out your late hymn-book?" Letter of Whitefield,
Feb. I, 1741. Tyerman, Life of Geo. Whitefield, New York, 1877, vol.
i, p. 465.
"Tyerman, Life of John Wesley, vol. i, p. 317.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 233
presented with little fairness. The hymns are on fire with
excitement and indignation at what threatened to undo the
prospects of the Movement. The Wesleys had the precedent
of the Reformers in employing satire and invective in their
Hymnody. We may nevertheless count it fortunate that
their work, immensely effective as it was at the time, was
not of such a character as to establish a new precedent for
the Controversial Hymn.
The success of these hymn tracts, scattered broadcast,
read and sung in Methodist homes and societies, is prob-
ably responsible for the long series of hymn tracts in which
further Wesleyan hymns were published. Capable of being
printed quickly to meet the occasion, sold for a few pence
and readily bought, the hymn tract became a favorite instru-
ment for the inspiration and instruction of the early Meth-
odists, and for cultivating their spirit of devotion. The
series of hymn tracts ran for fifty years (1741-1791), num-
bering not less than thirty.
A small group offered hymns for times of civil disquiet
and Methodist persecution : — Hymns for times of trouble
and persecution (1744); Hymns for times of trouble
(n. d.), Hymns ivritten in the time of the tumults (1780).
Another provided for national occasions and passing
events — Hymns for the public Thanksgiving-Day (1746),
Hymns for Nezv Years Day (1750), Hymns occasioned
by the Earthquake, 1750 (2 parts), Hymns for the year
1756, Hymns on the expected Hirasion (1759), and for
Thanksgiving, Nov. 2p, i/^p, Hymns for the National
Fast, 1782, and two numbers of Hymns for the Nation in
1782. Another provided for the festivals of the old Church
Year: — Hymns for the Nativity (1745) ; and Hymns for
our Lord's Resurrection, for Ascension Day, Hymns of
Petition and TJianksgii'ing (Whitsunday), and Gloria Patri
(Trinity), all of 1746. With these we may group A Hymn
at the Sacrament (1744), two numbers of Funeral Hymns
(1746, 1759), and Hymns for the Watchnight (1746).
For the household were Graces before meat (1746), Hymns
234 THE ENGLISH HYMN
for children (1746, 1791), and Preparation for death
(1772). More general in character were a little Collection
of Hymns (iy42) for the poor, Hymns for those that seek,
and those that have, redemption in the Blood of Jesus
Christ (1747, 10 editions), the most important of them all;
and Hymns of Intercession (1758) .
Charles Wesley (for the bulk of the work was his) was
thus the poet-laureate of Methodism, with an ode for every
occasion. Such a^companionship of hymns through pass-
ing years was never provided before or since, and was an
unique feature in the upbuilding of Methodist character.
In the extension also of the Revival, these hymn tracts,
widely distributed among the poor and degraded, played a
considerable part.
Returning now to the date at which the series of hymn
tracts began, we find that the Wesleys again cooperated
in publishing a third volume of Hymns and sacred Poems,
1742, whose preface and "many of the following verses"
dealt with Christian Perfection. This volume contributed
a hundred hymns to the permanent Methodist Hymnody.
A special interest attaches to the joint publication of Hymns
on the Lord's Supper. With a preface concerning the
Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice. Extracted from Doctor
Brevint (Bristol, 1745). Its 166 hymns testify to the deep
reverence for the sacramental side of religion that charac-
terized both brothers, and the demand for ten editions
shows how much those views influenced the earlier Meth-
odist worship."*^
Independently of John, Charles Wesley published by
subscription in 1749 Hymns and sacred Poems. In two
volumes. By Charles Wesley, M.A., Student of Christ-
Church, Oxford (Bristol). His friends took 1145 copies
*'In 1871 the whole book (together with John Wesley's earlier
Companion to the Altar) was reprinted as The Eucharistic Manuals
of John and Charles Wesley. The aim of the editor (W. E. Button)
was to make it appear that the Wesleys held sacramental views in
accord with those of the modern Catholic party.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 235
of these volumes,"*^ which contain many acceptable hymns,
and whose profits helped him to set up housekeeping at
Bristol. While partly laid aside, Charles Wesley occupied
himself with writing versified comments on Scripture texts,
often original, sometimes following earlier commentators.
These, to the great number of 2030, he published as Short
Hymns on select passages of the Holy Scripture (2 vols.,
1763), from which nearly a hundred were taken into Meth-
odist Hymnody. Four years later he printed Hymns for
the use of families, and on various occasions, many of
which relate to his own household and friendships, and
hallow the daily life of the home.
Charles Wesley wrote hymns to the very end, and left
behind him in manuscript three small quarto volumes of
hymns and sacred poems, an uncompleted metrical version
of the Psalms and five quarto volumes of hymns on the
Gospels and Acts.^^ The Psalms were printed in The
Arminian Magazine, and all have been printed with pious
care in Dr. Osborn's edition of The Poetical Works. It is
the great number of the short hymns on Scripture texts
that accounts for the vast total of Charles Wesley's work.
2. Hymn Books for "The People Called Methodists"
Most of the books and tracts we have enumerated as
those in which the Wesleyan Hymns first appeared were
used to sing from in the revival services, societies, bands
or classes. A number are to be regarded as hymn books.
But from the first establishment of Sunday, as well as
weekday, services Wesley felt the necessity of providing
h}'mn books that should be cheap, compact, and sufficiently
inclusive. The earliest of these was A Collection of Psalms
and Hymns. Published by John Wesley, M.A. (London,
1 741) ; sold at one shilling in binding, and containing 152
pieces. This was kept in print during the whole of Wesley's
life, remaining in use till superseded by the Supplement
'^Telford, Life of Charles Wesley, p. 248.
**Cf. Jackson, Life of Charles Wesley, vol. ii, p. 457.
236 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of 1 83 1. An abridgment of it was bound up with The
Sunday Scrrice of 1784, and used in congregations employ-
ing that service.^^ In 1753 he published Hymns and
Spiritual Songs, intended for the use of real Christians of
all denominations, made up entirely of selections from the
Hymns and sacred Poems of 1739, 1740 and 1742. This
became distinctively the Methodist hymn book, remaining
in common use till the appearance of "The Large Hymn
Book" of 1780, and in poorer societies long afterward. A
volume of Select Hymns was also published in 1761 with
tunes, and in 1773 printed without the tunes. In Wesley's
judgment the societies were thus amply supplied with hymn
books; "so that it may be doubted whether any religious
community in the world has a greater variety of
them." **^
Yet this very variety was an inconvenience to people who
could not afford to buy so many books, but wished for
more of the hymns than any one volume contained. An
urgent demand arose for a more inclusive collection. Wes-
ley resisted it for years. But after the opening of the City
Road Chapel in 1778 he yielded, and began his prepara-
tions. The new book was announced on the cover of The^
Arminian Magadne for October, 1779, and appeared in
1780 as A Collection of Hymns for the use of the People
called Methodists. London: printed by J. Paramore, at the
Foundcry: with the now famous preface, dated Oct. 20,
1779, and signed by John Wesley. It was published at
three shillings, and contained 525 hymns; all taken from
the brothers' previous publications, and all but ten written
by members of the Wesley family. They were grouped
under the heads of Christian experience, and designed to
constitute "a little body of experimental and practical
divinity." ^"
This collection became at once the book of common sotig
*''Cf. Green, Bibliography, nos. 30, 2)7^, 378.
"Preface of 1779.
''Preface.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 237
in Methodist congregations/^ After Wesley's death it was
tampered with by the manager of the Methodist PubHsh-
ing House, who made a succession of alterations,' beginning
with the 1793 edition, and culminating in that of 1797,^^
which dropped 24 hymns Wesley had chosen, and added 65
(including "Jesu, Lover of my Soul") which he had not
included. The Conference of 1799 appointed a committee
"to reduce the large Hymn Book to its primitive simplicity
as published in the second edition,"^^ which was attempted,
partly then, and partly later, but never carried out in
strictness. In 183 1 some changes were made, and a "Sup-
plement" added. This served until 1875, when the book
was revised, and "A new Supplement" added, nearly as
large as the original Collection.^^ It was not until 1900,
one hundred and nine years after Wesley's death, that steps
were taken, even then reluctantly, for a thorough revision
and remodelling of Wesley's Collection. The revision was
made largely in the spirit of catholicity, to which even the
fervor of Wesleyanism has been compelled to bow, and
the new book appeared in 1904 as The Methodist Hymn
Book.^^ For the first time the name of John Wesley dis-
appears from the title of the hymn book, and his arrange-
ment of the hymns is given up; but even so nearly one half
of the contents is ascribed to Charles. The whole number
of hymns is 981, and some 300 are of the XlXth century.
'''The Morning Hymn Book also continued to be used, in accordance
with Wesley's preference for hynms of thanksgiving and prayer rather
than hymns describing inward states for use in public worship. Cf.
"Early Methodist Psalmody" in A New History of Methodism, ed. by
J. W. Townsend et al., London, 1909, vol. ii, p. 561.
■■^For the editions, see Green, Bibliography, No. 348.
"'Wesley had, however, made "corrections" for the 3rd ed., 1782.
"^'The edition of 1831 is fully annotated in Geo. J. Stevenson, The
Methodist Hymn Book and its associations, London, 1869: that of
1875 in his The Methodist Hymn Book illustrated, London, 2nd ed.,
1894.
"'For an interesting account of the method of revision, see Telford,
The Methodist Hymn Book illustrated, London, n. d., pp. 12-14. Tel-
ford does for the new book what Stevenson did for the old.
238 THE ENGLISH HYMN
As Charles Wesley wrote hymns, so John compiled hymn
books, to the end of his hfe. A Collection of Psalms and
Hymns for the Lord's Day (1784) has been referred to as
bound up with The Sunday Service. In spite of the fulness
of the Collection of 1780, it appeared, to Wesley's vexation,
that societies were using hymns he had not authorized.
This was largely through the agency of Robert Spence, a
York bookseller. He published in 1781 A Collection of
Hymns from various authors, enlarged as A Pocket Hymn
Book, designed as a constant companion for the pious: col-
lected from various authors. A large proportion of the
hymns were taken without authority or acknowledgment
from various Wesley publications. Apparently to offset it,
and also to include some good hymns omitted from the 1780
Collection, but widely called for,^^ W^esley published in
1785 A Pocket Hymn Book, for tJie use of CJiristians of
all denominations. It was not reprinted, but under the
advice of Conference Wesley reprinted the Spence book
in 1787 (London: printed by J. Paramore; with the same
title as that of 1785), expunging 37 hymns as dull and
prosaic, or "grievous doggerel." Spence submitted to Wes-
ley's authority,^^ but his little book afterward became a
favorite in America.
In extreme old age, Wesley published his last collection,
Hymns for children (1790), chosen from his brother's
Hymns for children and others of riper years (1763).
These hymns show that the Wesleys were minded to carry
on the Children's Hymnody Watts had begun, but many
are beyond a child's comprehension. In an interesting
little preface Wesley contrasts Watts' method of writing
down to the child's level with his brother's efforts to lift up
the child to his own : — his brother's hymns are "in such
plain and easy language as even children may understand;
but when they do understand them they will be children
no longer."
"Preface.
"Tyerman, John Wesley, vol. iii, p. 539.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 239
III
THE METHODIST SINGING
I. John Wesley as Music-Master
Wesley gave the same forethought and attention to the
musical as to the literary side of Methodist Song, keeping
its direction in his own hands. His equipment for this
undertaking was his sound musical feeling, a very limited
technical knowledge, and an unusual practical sense. Per-
ceiving the importance of the Hymn Tune to the purpose
he had in view, he provided a body of "authorized" hymn
tunes, and expected that none other should be sung by
his followers. His cardinal principle was that the tunes^
should invite the participation of all the people; and, next,
should keep within the limits of sobriety and reverence^
The tunes were to express the words, avoiding "vain
repetitions" to fill out the music. Florid and fuguing tunes
he likened to "Lancashire hornpiJDes."^^
Wesley prepared four Methodist tune books, and perhaps
consented to the use of two more. As early as 1742 he
printed A Collection of Tunes, set to music, as they arc
commonly sung at the Foimdery.^^ The hymns set are those
of the three volumes of Hymns and sacred Poems. Its
price of six pence was intended to make it available to the
poor; and in printing the melody alone he appealed to the
unskillful. The book was so full of musical errors as to
defeat its own end, but is interesting as showing the tunes
first used at the Foundery. There are only three of the Old
Version psalm tunes. Very few of these remained in the
actual use of parish churches, and these were inevitably
associated with the dull, drawling parochial Psalmody. The
tunes of the Supplement to the New Version were freely
drawn upon; six German melodies, which Wesley had
'^Minutes of Conference, 1768.
"A reprint was bound up with that of the Charleston collection
of 1737.
240 THE ENGLISH HYMN
sung with the Moravians, were taken from Freyhng-
hausen's Gcsang-Buch; and some eleven tunes were appar-
ently new.^'^
The conversion in 1746 of Mrs. Rich, wife of the pro-
prietor of Covent Garden Theater, put Charles Wesley in
touch with the London musical circle in which J. F. Lampe,
Handel and others moved. ^* Handel set three of Charles'
hymns to music. Lampe published a musical setting of
twenty-four as Hymns on the great Festivals, and other
occasions (London, 1746; 4to). Handel's tunes were not
printed : Lampe's were generally admired, and their use
was "allowed" in Methodist services. The store of Meth-
odist tunes was increased by the adaptation of popular
melodies and by local tunes which Wesley came upon in his
travels.^^
Some of these tunes, with others, were gathered together
by Thomas Butts, a companion of the Wesleys, in his Har-
nionia Sacra (c. 1753). Wesley commended this book, but
objected to its more florid tunes, which he thought irrev-
erent, and its old Psalm tunes, which he thought dull. Wes-
ley's own Sacred Melody, published in 1761, to bind up
with the Select Hymns of that year, is little more than an
amended reproduction of Butts' book, omitting the objec-
tionable tunes. The 102 tunes of Sacred Melody represent
all those in use with Wesley's approval.*"* A class of tunes
of a more florid type, and characterized by much repetition
of the words and breaking up of the lines, came into such
wide popularity later that they were known in time as "The
Old Methodist Tunes." As a matter of fact these tunes
represented the taste of the later eighteenth century in
"Cf. J. T. Lightwood, Hymn Tunes and their story, London, n. d.
pp. 121-125.
''Telford, Charles Wesley, pp. 150-154, 230-234.
""Lightwood, op. cit., p. 128.
"" "All the tunes in common use among us." Wesley's preface. For
a good characterization of the contents of Sacred Melody, see "Early
Methodist Psalmody" in A new History of Methodism, vol. ii, appendix
C, pp. 558-560.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 241
general and not of the Methodists in particular as distin-
guished either from churchmen or dissenters.^^
In speaking of the actual Methodist tunes Wesley says
in the preface to his Sacred Melody of 1761 that he had
been engaged for twenty years endeavoring to persuade
musicians to follow his directions in setting down the tunes,
but in vain. He has at last prevailed, and the tunes are
here "pricked true, exactly as I desire all our congregations
may sing them." In this book appeared Wesley's "Direc-
tions for Singing," to be observed carefully in order that
"this part of Divine worship may be the more acceptable
to God, as well as more profitable" to singer and hearer.
These seven rules became canonical, and are, briefly : "Learn
tliesc tunes before any others; sing them exactly as printed;
sing all of them; sing lustily; sing modestly; sing in time;
above all sing spiritually, with an eye to God in every
word." They exhibit the practical mind and indomitable
will of Wesley covering the minutest details of Methodist
Song. And both Wesley's Journal and the minutes of the
Annual Conferences show how closely the observance of
these rules w^as looked after, and any breach of them in
spirit or letter detected.
2, The New Type of Congregational Song
Behind these regulations there was a marked spontaneity
in the early Methodist singing. It was the utterance of
simple and unlettered hearts in whom the Wesleyan evangel
had awakened a great happiness. They sang because their
overcharged feelings could not keep from singing. The
new hymns both fed and expressed the new feelings; and
the thrill of spiritual passion leaped from heart to heart of
a great concourse singing together "Blow ye the trumpet,
blow," "O for a thousand tongues to sing," or "Soldiers of
Christ, arise."
This Methodist Song in its spiritual spontaneity, its
fervor and its gladness, fulfilled to a remarkable degree the
"C/. Lightwood, op. cit., chaps, v and viii.
242 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Apostolic ideal of Christian Song; and the injunctions of
Wesley inevitably recall the figure of St. Paul, striving
not to stimulate so much as to regulate the "tongues," and
dealing prudently with their excesses and infelicities. The
Methodist excesses at the first were simply the noise of too
much physical exuberance and the confusions inevitable to
singers musically ignorant. Wesley instructed his preach-
ers to interrupt the noisy hymn, and interpolate questions
to the congregation: — "Now do you know what you said
last? Did it suit your case? Did you sing it as to God,
with the spirit and understanding also?"*^^ The ignorant,
he insisted, should be taught to sing by note and accept-
ably.*^^ On their behalf he himself published two tractates :
A short Introduction to Music, and The Grounds of vocal
Music. Refined, scholarly, of Anglican training and with
churchly sympathies, neither of the Wesley s conceived or
abetted congregational song that was vulgar in its literary
contents or flippant in music or indecorous in expression.
They cultivated a Hymnody that should be reverently and
decently ordered without any sacrifice of its heartiness.
As time went on the excesses of exuberance naturally less-
ened, and were followed by the creeping in of formality.
Wesley thought slow singing in itself tended to formality,
doubtless having in mind the droning of the psalms in parish
churches of the time.*^^ But a new danger arose with
the formation of a body of "Singers" to lead the worship of
the chapels. The singing originally had required little
leadership. Until the hymns were familiar or the people
could read, the lines were read out, and the tune started by
the preacher or any one available. As hymn and tune grew
familiar, they sounded forth impulsively. But with church
organization came the choir; and, with the choir, first the
more intricate tune, then the anthem, and finally the organ.
The Minutes of 1768 protest against the florid tunes.
Those of 1787 prohibit the introduction of anthems, as
^"Minutes of Conference, 1746.
"^Minutes, 1765. "^Minutes, 1768.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 243
not properly joint worship. In 1796 an exception was
allowed on special occasions. On such occasions, it
appears from the Minutes of 1800, even "theatrical"
singers had been introduced into the chapels to sing
elaborate solos and choruses. A few years later Richard
Watson printed a pamphlet on Singing Men and Women,
rebuking them as a class for unduly magnifying their
office.^^'
The question of instrumental music had little import
during Wesley's life. In the open air meetings the great
volume of sound would have drowned out any accompani-
ment, as it often drowned out the voices of those sent to
break up the meetings. And in none of the chapels were
the circumstances of the people such as to make likely any
proposal to install an organ. The bass-viol seems to have
been first introduced, as a support to the leader's voice. The
clarionet and other instruments followed, as was the custom
in the parish churches also. Not more than three chapels
introduced the organ while Wesley lived. ^^ The Minutes
of 1796 prohibit organs until proposed by the Conference.
The Minutes of 1808 show that some had already been
introduced, but consent is refused to the erection of any
more. The introduction of an organ in Brunswick Chapel,
Leeds, produced bitter controversy and a secession of
"Protestant Methodists," whose protest was against instru-
mental music. Daniel Isaac's Vocal Melody, or, Singing
the only music sanctioned by divine authority, in the public
worship of Christians (York, 1827), reveals in its title the
ground of this protest; although Isaac himself refused to
join the seceders. In this, as in much beside, the Church
Song of Methodism has since yielded to modern influences.
Practically all of the 9,000 churches of Wesleyan Meth-
odism in England to-day have their organ and choir f~ and
in 19 10 a monthly periodical, TJie Choir, was established
""Curwen, Worship Music, ist series, p. 57.
"M 7iew History of Methodism, vol. i, p. 515
^^The Choir for January, 1910, p. I.
M4 THE ENGLISH HYMN
ill the interests of Methodist church music. The congrega-
tional singing of present day Methodism has also exchanged
something of its early fervor for the more tempered enthu-
siasm that comes with years and educational progress.
But it still retains a certain characteristic flavor of its own ;
a certain potentiality also of regaining the old warmth and
volume under the stimulus of revival preaching.
IV
THE PART OF THE WESLEYS IN THE DEVELOP-
MENT OF THE ENGLISH HYMN
It is evident that a place must be given to the Wesleyan
Hymnody in the history of religion itself. The Wesleys
inaugurated a great spiritual revival; and their hymns did
as much as any human agency to kindle and replenish its
fervor. They conducted the propaganda of a new theology :
we can scan Wesley's sermons to discover its contents, but
in the hymns it was sung by multitudes; and of the two
media of its dissemination, the song was probably the more
efifective. John Wesley led an ecclesiastical revolt, and,
failing to conquer his own Church, established a new one
of phenomenal proportions : the hymns prefigured the con-
stitution of the new Church and formed the manual of
its spiritual discipline. The Wesleyan Hymns are thus
deeply written into the religious history of English-speaking
peoples. We might sum up the Wesleys' work in Hymnody
by saying that they perceived the spiritual possibilities of
hymns and of hymn singing, and that they realized them,
apparently to the full.
With this glimpse toward the wider bearings of their
work, it remains nevertheless to estimate more precisely the
place and importance of the Wesleys in the history of the
English Hymn and the extension of hymn singing. It will
be convenient to regard their work as : —
^^^ 1. A great enrichment of the stores of English Hymns. —
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 245
The work of Charles Wesley as a hymn writer attained
vast proportions, including some 6,500 hymns. In dis-
tinguishing major from minor poets, it is customary to
regard the mere bulk of an author's production as an evi-
dence of power and an element of impressiveness. The
same consideration doubtless applies to hymn writers. But
in Charles Wesley's case his inventiveness and facility were
coupled with a total inability for self-criticism. The in-
ward impulse to give rhythmical expression to convictions
and feelings hardened into a habit. And this, stimulated
by the assurance of an eager welcome for anything he
might publish, led him to produce a considerable body of
material in no way worthy of his own powers.
But for all practical purposes the contribution of Charles
Wesley to devotional poetry was confined to the limits of
the selection made by his brother John for the Methodist
Collection of 1780, and its supplements. The pamphlets
and volumes in which the hymns originally appeared were
allowed to go out of i)rint, and dropped out of sight; and
some part of his work remained unpublished. The Meth-
odists were so well satisfied with their hymn book as to be
incurious as regards the outlying material. Moreover,
Charles Wesley had remained a consistent churchman to
the end. He had controverted many of his brother's
opinions, and protested against his whole course in estab-
lishing an independent Methodist Church. Loyalty to John
Wesley's memory left the Methodists indisposed toward any
attempt to magnify the name or reputation of Charles. His
family deemed it prudent to keep his manuscripts and family
papers in careful custody, and it was not till after Miss
Wesley's death in 1828 that they passed into the possession
of the Wesleyan Conference.*^^ No adequate biography of
Charles Wesley was written until 1841. No attempt was
made to collect the numerous poetical publications, or even
to prepare any connected account of them, until 1848, when
an American, Joseph Creamer of Baltimore, published his
*'See Jackson, Life of Charles IVesley, preface.
246 THE ENGLISH HYMN
•
Methodist Hymnology.^^ The whole body of the Wesleyan
Hymns was not collected and printed until in 1868- 1872
the London Conference Office published The Poetical
Works of John and Charles Wesley in thirteen i2nio
volumes.
But while in this way the presentation of Charles Wes-
ley's work as a whole was deferred, and his actual contri-
bution to Hymnody narrowed down to the contents of the
Methodist Collection, even so that contribution was un-
precedentedly large. Even in the first edition the number
of hymns counted as his was about as large as- in the entire
System of Praise of Dr. Watts, and in the revision of
1875 it attained the great total of 724 hymns. The whole
number of these hymns must be regarded as having come
into actual use. If any escaped being sung, it was never-
theless read devotionally. After a century and a quarter
the revisers of 1904 speak of "the delicate task of removing
hymns from "Wesley's original book,""'^ and their new
Methodist Hymn Book retains 429 hymns ascribed to
Charles Wesley. His whole contribution to English Hym-
nody cannot therefore be estimated in figures smaller than
these, and the number of his hymns in actual use to-day has
been estimated as 500.'^^
Beside such figures the contribution of John Wesley is
relatively small. His share in writing the original hymns
cannot now be determined. In the Collection of 1780,
twenty-seven numbers are admittedly his, mostly renderings
from the German. These, though few, give him an unique
place as a hymn writer at the head of the small band who
have transferred foreign hymns so deftly that they breathe
naturally under English skies. A number of them may
fairly be included among the classics of English Hymnody.
""The Wesleyan Hymnology of Rev. Wm. P. Burgess (London,
1845, 2nd ed. 1846), was simply "A Companion to the Wesleyan Hymn
Book," with brief remarks on the hymns, intended to promote their
profitable use.
'"Preface to the Meth Hy. Bk., p. iv.
"Gregory, op. cit., p. 165.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 247
But John Wesley, in connection with the exercise of the
new function of an Administrator of hymn singing, stands
related to the whole body of the Wesleyan Hymns as their
editor. The editor's function is at all times essential to
the well-being of Congregational Praise, and Wesley was
the first of note in the long line of English hymnal com-
pilers. He exercised his function autocratically, but on
the whole with distinguished success. Charles Wesley's
hymns owe much to the strong hand of his brother, not
only for the winnowing they so much needed, but for the
verbal revision to which he subjected them insistently, be-
fore their first appearing and after it. His entire freedom
in this respect has been regarded as inconsistent with the
protest in the preface of the Collection against the alteration
of his own or his brother's hymns by other hands. "I
desire," he says, "they would not attempt to mend them;
for they really are not able. None of them is able to mend
either the sense or the verse. "'^ There is nothing in the
protest inconsistent with the practice. Wesley sincerely
believed he could improve other people's hymns, whether
Watts' or his brother's, and along with this self-confidence
had a total lack of confidence in the ability of other "hymn-
tinkerers." The results in his case went far to justify the
self-confidence. Unhappily the practice rather than the
protest established a precedent for an editorial custom of
"tinkering" hymns which afterward went to great lengths,
and only too often failed to justify itself.
>^ 2. The work of the Wesleys modified the ideal of tJic
English Hymn itself, both on its spiritual and literary sides,
and established nezu types of hymns. — No one can turn from
the earlier hymns to the Wesleyan without being conscious
of a change of atmosphere, a heightening of emotion, a
novelty of theme, a new manner of expression.
^ ( I ). This change reveals itself, first, through a new evan-
gelistic note in the hymns. In the quiet of his study Watts
'"Both Whitefield and Toplady were among those who in their
published hymn books had already offended in this direction.
248 THE ENGLISH HYMN
had aimed to improve the character of the Service of Praise.
The Wesleys struck a new note, — the proclamation of an
unhmited atonement and free gospel, with the yearning
cry of the field preacher to "all that pass by." They
sounded it in revival hymns, directly addressed to sinners,
and glowing with the exhorter's excitement. They aimed
to bring the unchurched and unsaved within the sound of
the gospel, and to use song as a means of his conversion and
upbuilding. And so, when the hymns were gathered into
the Methodist Collection, the first section of the book bore
the title, "Exhorting and Entreating to return to God."
The Wesleys may be said to have introduced the Evange-
listic Hymn, as we use that term to-day. Their lead was
more or less followed through the whole breadth of the
Evangelical Revival, and by the extending line of latter-
day revivalists. There will always be some to contend that
evangelistic hymns should be confined to revival meetings
as distinguished from the Church's stated worship, and
that a rhymed appeal to sinners is not a hymn in any true
sense. But the quickened sense of responsibility for evan-
gelization which spread from the Methodist Movement into
all the Churches has learned to regard such questions as
largely academic. The Evangelistic Hymn has a secure
place not only in the ordinary church hymnal but even in
the collections of the straitest Anglicans. For this the Wes-
leys are responsible, even though the evangelistic hymns
of Charles Wesley have not as a class come into much use
beyond Methodism. Each subsequent revival has tended
to develop its own Hymnody. But for the character of
too much of this later Hymnody the Wesleys cannot justly
be regarded as responsible. The Evangelistic Hymn as
conceived by them is simple, direct and tender; expressed
in rippling measures that would catch the ear of the passer-
by and assist his memory. But from triviality and from
vulgarity the Wesleyan hymns are characteristically free.
(2). The work of the Wesleys, notably of Charles,
greatly affected the Hymn of Christian Experience. At his
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 249
hands this becomes the predominating theme of Hymnody.
He felt an impulse to translate every new spiritual experi-
ence into song; and the spiritual needs of the converts, as
disclosed in the class-meetings, broke through his natural
reserve, and called upon him to bare the deepest feelings of
his soul, and lay them at the feet of those who needed his
sympathy and guidance. The hymns are frankly autobio-
graphical. They portray, without any effort to tone down
his own heightened emotions to the average level, his per-
sonal spiritual history : — his unrest and even agony under
bondage to the law, his instantaneous conversion and the
assurance of faith, the period of ecstatic joy, the ups and
downs of the pilgrim progress to the "second rest," his
delight in the anticipation of death.
In this way the Methodist Hymnody developed into some-
thing more than a body of Church Song. As finally
gathered into the Collection of 1780, it constituted what
John Wesley called the fullest account of Scriptural Chris-
tianity in existence. The whole area of the operations of
the Spirit in the heart is there charted out with firmness
and precision. The experiences are primarily the Wesleys'
own. But it was a feature of their method to anticipate,
and in a remarkable degree to evoke, in their converts a
repetition of their own experiences. And the Hymnody
did much in developing the type of piety we still describe
as Methodist. Methodist though it was, Dr. Martineau,
the Unitarian, wrote of it in 1869:'^^ — "After the Scrip-
tures, the Wesley Hymn Book appears to me the grandest
instrument of popular religious culture that Christendom
has ever produced."
This conception of the Hymn, and this turning of the
congregational praise book into a manual of spiritual dis-
cipline, were not the expression of the Wesleys' theory of
worship imposed upon the Revival. They were rather the
result of the Revival experiences with the poor and unlet-
tered, the observation of the great educative power that lay
'''Life and Letters of James Martineau, New York, 1902, vol. ii, p. 99.
250 THE ENGLISH HYMN
in the use of hymns which the Revival itself had called
forth and shaped. In the fulness and precision of its deal-
ings w^ith the Christian life, the Methodist Collection re-
mains unique, but its new emphasis on the Hymn- of
Experience became a precedent, and was extended through
the various channels of Hymnody that more or less directly
had their source in the Revival.
The value of the precedent thus established will be vari-
ously appraised. From the liturgical point of view the
Hymn of Experience seems to violate the traditions, and
to create a new standard of Church Praise. Instead of a
congregation uttering its corporate praise with a common
voice, we have a gathering of individuals conducting their
private devotions in audible unison. And when the Hymn
of Experience becomes autobiographical, it gives rise to
the double question, how far its writer's individual experi-
ence is fitted to be a norm of Christian experience in gen-
eral, and how far putting another's experience into the
mouth of a promiscuous congregation lends itself to the
promotion of religious insincerity.
In applying these tests to Charles Wesley's autobio-
graphical hymns, there is no occasion to separate the body
of them from the Wesleyan Method, of which they became
the effective instrument. In the case of a great majority
of them, their use has been confined within the limits of
Methodism. Of the remainder some, by reason of their
emotional intensity and spiritual exaltation, are clearly un-
fitted for general and indiscriminate use."^^ Others have
awakened a response in the common heart of English-speak-
ing Christendom ; though even in the case of some of these
there is no unanimity of opinion as to the fitness of such
intimate strains for general worship.'^^
'* "They are too good for such purposes." Burgess, op. cit., p. 266.
"£. g., of "Jesu, Lover of my Soul," Canon Ellerton, the hymn
writer, has said "Most clergymen, I suppose, would hesitate before
selecting it as the vehicle of the ordinary worsliip of a mixed congre-
gation." H. Housman, John Ellerton, London, 1896, p. 237.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 251
(3). The work of the Wesleys led the way toward a
churchly or Liturgical Hymnody. The idea of celebrating
the Christian festivals in verse had of course been held in
common by many devotional poets : even that of a "Chris-
tian Year" which should be a poetic illustration of the
Prayer Book began with Bishop Ken rather than with
Keble. But in the Wesleys' time the thought of a "Hymnal
Companion to the Prayer Book" was not in men's minds,
and the work of Wither in that direction had been long
forgotten.
The Wesleys had planned to carry on their work in the
Church of their fathers, and as late as 1750 printed hymns
under their names as "Presbyters of the Church of Eng-
land."^^ The group of hymn tracts for various festivals of
the Christian Year contains some of the best h3^mns of
that type in the language, and perhaps indicates the line on
which the Wesleyan Hymnody would have developed apart
from the revival influences. Even after the Church proved
inhospitable to the Wesleys' work and their hymns, the
brothers remained in its ministry, churchmen at heart and
to a great extent in practice.
The Hymns on the Lord's Supper of 1745 would seem
a strange intrusion into the body of their experimental
Hymnody, if we did not understand how the Church service
and the Methodist meeting continued, in the mind of both
brothers, to exist side by side, each complementing the
other. They regarded the Lord's Supper as the crown of
Christian worship, and held it in profoundest reverence.
This book of 1745 is the witness of their desire that their
followers should share their views. It is a "hymnal com-
panion" to the Prayer Book "Order of the Administration
of the Lord's Supper," by no means neglectful of the
"Cath<ilic" aspects of that service. John Wesley required
of his people frequent communions in their parish churches;
and, after the permanent organization of Methodism as a
separate church, arranged ftn* it a liturgical and sacramental
'"'Hymns on the Lord's Supper (title pages of some editions).
252 THE ENGLISH HYMN
scheme of worship, modified from The Book of Common
Prayer, with its own Hymnody "for the Lord's Day" serv-
ices. The churchly and sacramental procHvities of the
Wesleys permanently impressed themselves on English
Methodism, and, as embodied in its Hymnody, differentiate
that Hymnody from the early Nonconformist "System of
Praise," and no less from later types of Revival Hymnody,
which give scant recognition to church or sacrament.
"Never at any time was there a danger of the Methodist
Societies cutting themselves off from the Catholic Church
by neglect of the Sacraments, or of their becoming an
exclusively evangelistic organization on the plan of the
Salvation Army."'''^ There was thus nothing anomalous in
the fact that the Wesleys should be the first within the
bounds of the Church of England to celebrate its festival
days in adequate songs and to provide a Sacramental
Hymnody.
(4). The work of the Wesleys set up a new standard in
Hymnody on its literary side. Their hymns are in line
with the earlier devotional poets rather than with Watts.
They controverted Watts' canon of hymn writing and laid
down a new one, — a hymn should be a poem.
John Wesley's taking to Georgia a copy of Herbert's
Poems, and his repeated efforts to utilize its verses in his
hymn books, are significant. The brothers had been trained
in the very atmosphere of sacred poetry. Samuel Wesley's
preface to his An Epistle to a friend coneerning Poetry
(1700) was a vigorous, even violent, philippic against the
profligacy and "infidel principles" of current letters, espe-
cially poetry; and all the poets of the Epworth rectory
aimed to rebut the prevailing notion that religion offered no
fit themes to poetry. So far the standpoint of Watts and
the Wesleys was one, but only so far.
Watts insisted that the Hymn must be kept outside the
realm of poetry, stripped of poetic suggestiveness, and be
written down to the level of the meanest capacity. Wesley
"Gregory, Hymn Book of the Modern Church, p. 177.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 253
maintained that the Hymn should be a rehgious lyric and
create the impression of lyrical poetry; that the masses
must be lifted up to the level of the Hymn, and made to
feel the beauty and inspiration of poetry. By this standard
he tried not only the work of Watts, but of his brother
Charles, of a group of whose hymns he said, "Some are
bad, some mean, some most excellently good."^^ And when
his Methodist "System of Praise" was finally complete, he
made the proud boast :'^ —
"May I be permitted to add a few words with regard to the
poetry? ... In these Hymns there is no doggerel, no botches,
nothing put in to patch up the rhyme, no feeble expletives.
Here is nothing turgid or bombast on the one hand, or low and
creeping on the other. . . . Here are (allow me to say) both
the purity, the strength and the elegance of the ENGLISH
language : and at the same time the utmost simplicity and plain-
ness, suited to every capacity. Lastly, I desire men of taste to
judge (these are the only competent judges;) whether there is
not in some of the following verses, the true Spirit of Poetry:
such as cannot be acquired by art and labour ; Init must be the
gift of nature. By labour a man may become a tolerable imi-
tator of SPENSER, SHAKESPEAR, or MILTON, and may
heap together pretty compound epithets, as PALE-EYED,
WEAK-EYED, and the like. But unless he is born a Poet,
he will never attain the genuine SPIRIT OF POETRY."
In the judgment of a recent historian of English Poetry,^"
Wesley "was fully justified" in making this boast, and his
brother Charles was "the most admirable devotional lyric
poet in the English language."
Incidental to the poetic freedom with which Charles Wes-
ley wrote was the marked metrical development he gave to
the English Hymn. Tate and Brady in the new Psalmody,
'"'Journal, December 15, 1788.
"In preface to the Collection of 1780.
""W. J. Courthope, A History of English Poetry, vol. v, London,
1905, p. 343. Prof. Felix E. Schelling, in his more recent The English
Lyric (Houghton MifHin Co., 1913) occupies the familiar critical
attitude, and has been quoted in our preface. "The critical world is yet
but half-persuaded that a hymn can be poetry," the late Frederic M.
Bird said in the preface of his Charles Wesley seen in his finer and less
familiar Poems. New York : Hurd & Houghton, 1867,
254 THE ENGLISH HYMN
and Watts in the new Hymnody, had confined themselves
to the simple metres of the old Psalmody. This was with
a view of meeting the musical limitations of the congrega-
tions, but not without a thought for the quasi-sacredness
acquired by these metres as the traditional vehicles of praise,
Charles Wesley cast aside all such scruples, and wrote freely
in the rhythms and measures most natural or effective;
some suggested by German originals, some his own. He
wrote hymns in some thirty metres, whose freshness and
variety became a marked feature of the Methodist Collec-
tion. He rather neglected the familiar Iambic metres of
the psalm books, purposely no doubt, and excelled in his
handling of trochaic metres. Some of his irregular or
"peculiar" metres have less reason for being there.
The early Methodists, always under the pressure of John
Wesley's schooling, seem to have had little trouble with the
novel metres. But their ability to handle the less simple
metres gradually lessened. By the XlXth century a con-
siderable part of the Collection had, for that reason, become
practically obsolete. Toward the middle of the century the
matter was taken up, and some of the hymns restored into
actual use. On the other hand, a variety of metres intro-
duced by the Wesleys have now become familiar and
standard measures in English Hymnody.
Upon the writing of hymns Charles Wesley's influence
was less immediate and less clearly marked than that of
Watts. He cannot be said to have established a school of
hymn writers. His poetic inspiration and even his peculiar
style discouraged imitation. Of the associates of the Wes-
leys who remained Methodists, Thomas Olivers^ ^ and John
Bakewelh'*^ are each remembered as the author of a single
hymn. John Murlin, one of Wesley's preachers who sur-
vived him, printed (8i) Sacred Hymns on various subjects,
which reached a second edition (Bristol, 1782 ), but are not
remembered. In the generation immediately following the
"Author of "The God of Abraham praise."
^"Author of "Hail ! Thou once-despised Jesus."
IIYMNODY OF METHODIST RFA'IVAL 255
Wesleys, there were virtually no Methodist hymn writers at
all. No need was felt of adding to the Wcsleyan Hymns,
and certainly there was no hope in any Methodist mind of
improving upon them."*'' Of the Wesleys' associates who
became Moravians, those who wrote hymns show the influ-
ence of Herrnhut rather than of Charles Wesley. On the
Calvinistic side of the Revival there was more opportunity
for hymn writers than on the Methodist. And it is one
of the humors of the situation that the polemic and indig-
nant Toplady so "evidently kindled his poetic torch at
that of his contemporary, Charles Wesley." Montgomery's
remark^"* that if Toplady's "Deathless principle, arise" had
appeared without name, it might have been confidently set
down as the production of Charles Wesley, may be extended
to cover a number of Toplady's hymns. Upon hymn writers
in general Charles Wesley's influence operated less by way
of furnishing models for imitation than by gradually enlarg-
ing their conception of the Hymn, in its themes, its methods
and its metrical structure.
V
THE WESLEYAN HYMNS IN THE CHURCH AT
LARGE
We have yet to consider the part of the Wesleys in the
extension of hymn singing. And perhaps it needs to be
emphasized that their immediate work in this direction was
effected within the ranks of their own followers. It was
effected by developing among them a new type of fervid
song learned from the Moravians, and by establishing a
great denomination of which hymn singing was the charac-
teristic note.
'*'Among later Methodist hymn writers, mention may be made of
William M. Bunting, W. Morley Punshon, Benjamin Gough, E. Evans
Jenkins, J. Lyth, E. J. Brailsford, A. H. Vine, T. B. Stephenson, and
Edw. Boaden.
'^^The Christian Psalmist, 1825, preface, p. xxvi.
256 THE ENGLISH HYMN
When we come to "The revolution in Church Psalmody"
which the editor of Wesley's Journal foresees in his work
in Georgia and his hymn book of 1737,^^ we need to remem-
ber that Watts and not Wesley was the leader in that
revolution. Even the familiar statement of Green that by
the Wesleys "a new musical impulse was aroused in the
people which gradually changed the face of public devotion
throughout England,"®*^ needs to be qualified. The fervor
of Methodist song was evoked by Methodist experience. It
does not appear to have passed over even to the Calvinistic
side of the Revival itself. The influence of the Wesleys in
"changing the face of devotion" was somewhat indirect, and
to a great extent it was deferred.
When we think of the contagion of Methodist fervor as
inoculating the ranks of the psalm singers outside with its
love of the Wesleyan Hymns and its passion for hymn-
singing, we are far away from real XVHIth century hap-
penings. The actual relation of the work of the Wesleys
in Hymnody to the Churches outside of Methodism in-
volves some very peculiar features. Perhaps there is no
readier way of understanding it than that of pointing the
contrast in this respect between their work and that of their
predecessor, Dr. Watts.
To-day it is a commonplace to couple the names of Watts
and Charles Wesley at the head of English Hymnody, with
little disposition to ask which name is the greater. But this
attitude of the modern Church toward them has been
attained very gradually. It involved a complete readjust-
ment of the claim of the two men upon the Church's favor,
that became possible only after a gradual enlargement of the
Church's heart; in effecting which the Wesleys have been
among the chief agents. Historically there was the sharpest
contrast between the church's reception of Watts' Psalms
and Hymns and of Charles Wesley's. Two features of the
original situation sufficiently explain this.
^^Journal, vol. i, p. 229.
^"Short History of the English People, ed. London, 1884, p. 719.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 257
First. The contrast existed already in the actual work
of the two men, judged from the point of view of avail-
ableness for general use. Watts' felicity lay in his gift
for locating the common level and his refusal to soar. He
embodied the theology of his surroundings, and kept within
the average range of spiritual experience. This self-
restraint gave his work something like a universal appeal.
When he had once persuaded Nonconformist Churches that
they wanted hymns, the Churches felt that his hymns were
just what they wanted. His entire System of Praise, with-
out sifting or retrenchment, commended itself alike to Inde-
pendents, Presbyterians, and Baptists. Thus it could happen
that in many quarters what now is called the "Hymnal"
was referred to simply as "Watts."
Nothing of this kind could have happened to Charles
\\'esley. His work did not commend itself to current taste
as poetry. To the average worshiper it would hardly sug-
gest itself as adapted for singing; for he had no experience
of the use of anything like this as material of praise, and
knew no tunes in these strange metres. Its theology was
aggressively in the opposition, and heated by the contro-
versial spirit. Its spiritual tone was strange and unreal to
the man who had not come under Methodist training.
Moreover the high spiritual levels on which Charles Wesley
moved were immeasurably above the average experience
or even ambition. And, at a time when the churches
expected to receive their materials of praise as a unit, if not
indeed from a single hand, no one of the successive collec-
tions of the Wesleys' hymns could have been a candidate
for adoption in any branch of the Church, or by any com-
pany of Christians outside of Methodism. The very neces-
sity of selecting the available hymns, imbedded in a mass
of material not attractive to general taste or conviction,
was tantamount to a postponement of the rightful claims
of the Wesleys to a share in the Hymnody of the Church
at large.
Second. There was the same contrast in the extent of
258 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the opportunity for the general diffusion of their hymns
afforded by the respective circumstances and surroundings
of Watts and Charles Wesley.
Watts moved on the social uplands of English Noncon-
formity. He was universally looked up to by dissenters,
and he freely met "bishops and other clergy" on their own
level. His position could not have been more favorable for
disseminating that System of Church Ptaise he regarded
as his great work. But while Watts advanced by the high-
ways seen and respected of all, the Wesleys worked
behind the hedges separating them from both Church and
dissent. In so far as either had any real knowledge of the
Wesleys and their work, they were regarded by churchmen
as schismatics and ranters, and by socially respectable dis-
sent as sentimentalists and sensationalists. They sought to
reach the masses neglected by Church and dissent alike, and
by methods disapproved of by both. They forsook the con-
ventional order, aroused intellectual contempt, awakened
intense theological bitterness and incurred social ostracism,
and even personal violence. It is difhcult now to reproduce,
even to the imagination, "the Reproach of Methodism," and
to appreciate the isolation of the Methodist Movement from
contemporary religious activity or stagnation.
It would be idle to deny that the Wesleyan Hymns suf-
fered from these associations. The contagion of this fervid
Methodist song could not be felt, so long as the Methodists
and the churches were not brought into contact. The real
charm of the Wesleyan poetry could not be perceived, so
long as men regarded it as the mere vehicle of Methodist
errors, or failed to regard it at all, as unworthy of atten-
tion. There resulted an inevitable postponement of any
use of the Wesleyan Hymns by the churches outside. And
even more permanently the hymns retained a Methodist
taint, from which nothing but the change of feeling that
time brings could wholly free them.
Whitefield's use of some of the Wesleyan Hymns at his
Tabernacle helped a few of them across the wall separating
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 259
Arminianism from Calvinism. But Lady Huntingdon's
Connexion and the Moravian Methodists developed their
own hymn writers and their own Hymnody. One and
another of the choice spirits among the Church of England
clergy who caught the glow of the Revival, introduced some
of the Wesleyan hymns into their new hymn books, and
gave them their first opportunity for a wider use. Some
of these hymns passed from one collection into others, and
were gradually added to. They made their way on their
own merits, as it is evident that many compilers knew noth-
ing of the source of the materials they used. Even so, the
Wesleyan hymns thus used in the latter part of the
XVIIIth century were few, and their use itself hmitcd. The
Independents were under the spell of the Watts tradition.
In the first outstanding Baptist collection (Ash and Evans,
1760) the infusion of Wesleyan hymns was very trifling:
in that of Dr. Rippon (1787) it was larger. In the early
XlXth century the inclusion of some Wesleyan hymns
became the general rule, and their number has gradually
increased to its present proportions. But in such use,
through the first half-century and beyond, there was a very
common feature which every student of hymn books has
observed; that is to say, that even where compilers have
been careful to give the names of other authors, the hymns
of the Wesleys were frequently printed as anonymous, or
ascribed to some other author. Doddridge, Toplady, De
Courcey, Cennick, Cowper and Montgomery, were among
the names given as the authors of Wesleyan hymns in Eng-
lish and American collections of note. Of Wesleyan hymns,
given without any name, or with a wrong name appended
to them, Mr. Burgess*^" found 27 in Rippon's Selection
( i8th ed.), 15 in Willcock's Collection, 24 in Montgomery's
Christian Psalmist, 22 in Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody,
and 29 in Conder's Congregational Hymn-Book. It is not
surprising that Burgess saw in this coincidence a furtive
use of Wesleyan materials, and something like a con.spiracy
"W. P. Burgess, Wesleyan Hymnology, 2nd ed., London, 1849, p. 9-
26o THE ENGLISH HYMN
to suppress the truth, due to Calvinistic prejudice. And yet,
among the compilers Burgess arraigns, James Montgomery
was influenced by no such motive, and in the pages of the
very book referred to he paid tribute to Charles Wesley's
genius, ranking him next to Watts. An explanation of the
situation must include Montgomery as well as Rippon.
The explanation of the manner of Charles Wesley's treat-
ment lies largely, if not wholly, in the general ignorance of
hymn book compilers concerning their materials. We have
already said^^^ that Daniel Sedgwick, a shoemaker's appren-
tice and second-hand book dealer, not born until 1814, was
the first to make a collection and systematic study of Eng-
lish hymn books. And only when in middle life he began
to put his knowledge at the service of compilers, was there
a beginning of the lifting of the dense cloud of ignorance
covering the sphere of minor letters now appropriated to
what we call Hymnology. This ignorance was well dis-
tributed over the whole extent of Hymnody. But it must
be admitted that as regards Charles Wesley there was some-
thing like a concentration of ignorance. In the 13th number
of Notes and Queries (Jan. 26, 1850), established as "a
medium of inter-communication between literary men," etc.,
a correspondent asks :
"Can any of your readers inform me who was the author of
the well-known Christmas-Hymn, 'Hark the Herald Angels
Sing,' which is so often found (of course without the slightest
shadow of authority) at the end of our Prayer Books? In the
collection of poems entitled Christmas-Tyde, published by Pick-
ering, the initials 'J- C. W.' are appended to it ; the same in
Bickersteth's Hymn Book. In the last number of the Christian
Remembrancer, it is incorrectly attributed to Doddridge. . . .
If the author of the hymn cannot be determined, it would be
interesting to know its probable date. . . ."
It may be noted that the writer in The Christian Remem-
brancer who in 1850 attributed the hymn to Doddridge was
none other than John Mason Neale, a diligent student of
the old Latin and Greek church Hymnody,
*^In the preface.
HYMNODY OF MinilODIST REVIVAL 261
Three weeks after the appearance of the inquiry in Notes
and Queries, came a reply (the only one) from another
correspondent :
"I believe [the hymn] to be the composition of the Rev.
Charles Wesley, 'the younger brother of the celebrated John
Wesley. He was the author of many of the hymns in his
brother's collection, which are distinguished for their elegance
and simplicity. I am not able to find out, for certain, whether
he had another name; if he had, it was probably the occasion
of the initials (J. C. W.) your correspondent mentions.'""
The need for such an inquiry in such quarters sixty-two
years after Charles Wesley's death, and the uncertainty of
the only reply, fully explain the failure of the editors of
hymn books to give him proper recognition. There was
no conspiracy among them to suppress the facts. But there
was a common ignorance concerning Charles Wesley and
his w^ork. And it may be that in his case there was an
element of wilfulness in this ignorance that had its roots in
theological or ecclesiastical prejudice. Whatever the mo-
tives to disassociate his name from his hymns may have
been, the net result was in his favor. A number of these
unfathered hymns gained a sure place in the affection of
the Churches. And when they came to realize the actual
extent of Charles Wesley's contribution to the common
stock, the time had come when the fact could be accepted
even gladly, as an evidence of the large area of Christian
truth and feeling which all the Churches hold in common.
'"Doubtless the initials were originally intended to represent J. and
C. Wesley.
CHAPTER VI
THE HYMNODY OF THE METHODIST REVIVAL
( Continued )
To complete the account of Methodist Hymnody in
England it will be necessary to follow its fortunes among
those dissenting Methodist bodies which cut themselves off
from the main stem of Wesleyanism. But these schisms
and their growth into large independent denominations
pertain to the period following Wesley's death. And con-
siderations of chronology demand attention to the Hymnody
of English Moravianism, whose beginnings were contem-
poraneous with those of Methodism, and so closely con-
nected with the Revival as to give rise to the name of
"Moravian Methodism." We must also follow the Wes-
leyan Movement across the sea, and study the Hymnody of
that great Methodist Church which Wesley himself lived
to found in America.
VI
THE MORAVIAN HYMNODY
I. After the Breach with Wesley the Moravians
Develop an Eccentric Hymnody (1741-1754)
The "Unitas Fratrum," as renewed at Herrnhut by Count
Zinzendorf, claims descent from the Bohemian Brethren,
who made the first hymn books of Protestant type.^ The
Moravians inherited this hymn making and hymn singing
disposition as well as some of the earlier hymns. But on the
Moravian Hymnody Zinzendorf stamped his own ardent
and peculiar personality by his hymn writing, his singing
'See chap, i, part I, sect. 2.
262
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 263
meetings and his hymn books for both Herrnhut and Lon-
don congregations.^
This was the German Hymnody that so deeply influenced
the Wesleys on their voyage to America, and it was brought
to England by Brethren from Herrnhut who established the
little circle of Moravians at London. When the Wesleys
returned to London they entered this circle as guests of
James Hutton and spiritual pupils of Peter Bohler; and
their association with the Moravians was for a time very
close. On May i, 1738, Bohler and Wesley joined in
drawing up regulations for the society at Hutton's house,
later at Fetter Lane.^ How far Wesley's A Collection of
Psalms and Hymns of 1738 represents this association,
and this society (as yet neither Moravian nor Methodist),
can only be conjectured. With the breach between Wesley
and the Moravians that quickly followed, the development
of an English Moravian Hymnody became as inevitable
as was the writing of the Wesleyan Hymns.
The Moravians naturally drew their inspiration from
Herrnhut, and their first effort was a little book of hymns
translated from the German. It was put to press in October,
1 74 1, by James Hutton, and seems to be that submitted to
Dr. Doddridge and read by him "with great pleasure. ""^
Between 1742 and 1748 followed A Collection of Hymns
with several translations from the Hymn Book of the
Moravian Brethren in three parts.^ There had been also
^For Zinzcndorf and German Moravian Hymnody, see E. E. Koch,
Geschichte des Kirchcnlieds und Kirchengesangs der christlichen,
insbefondcre der deutschen evangclischen Kirche, 3rd ed., vol. 5,
Stuttgart, 1868, pp. 283-352. For his hymns, see also Albert Knapp,
Geistlichc Gedichte dcs Grafcn von Zinzcndorf, Stuttgart, 1845 (but
as to text consult Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, p. 1302").
^Wesley's Journal, vol. i, pp. 458, 459.
*David Benham, Memoirs of James Hutton, London, 1856, p. 75 :
and see Doddridge's letter of Nov. 18, 1741, p. 62.
°Part i, 1742 (Hymns 1-187, with 188-239 in appendix of 2nd edn.,
1743): part ii, 1746 (Hymns 240-403, and some unnumbered: part iii,
1748, with 126 numbered, and some unnumbered verses; the hymns
increased to 161 in 1749.
264 THE ENGLISH HYMN
in 1742 A second Collection of Hymns, never before
printed, zvith several new translations from the Hymn-Book
of the Moravian Brethren (London, J. Hutton, 83 hymns) ;
and there followed in 1752 Some other Hymns and Poems,
consisting chiefly of translations from the German. These
hymns by numerous hands represent the common desire of
the London Society to express its peculiar views in social
song; but up to this point they "were never regularly
authorized nor always passably reviewed." °
Zinzendorf had planned a hymn book/ the details
of which he committed to John Gambold,^ one of the
Oxford "Holy Club," and afterwards a leader in London
Moravianism. This, the first authorized hymn book, ap-
peared as A Collection of Hymns of the Children of God
in all ages, from the beginning till now. In two parts.
Designed chiefly for the use of the congregations in union
with the Brethren's Church. London printed; and to be
had at all the Brethren's Chapels, MDCCLIV. The book
is a i2mo. of 804 pages, with the hymns set up in double
columns. Li motive and in contents, as in size, it was quite
without precedent. Part i was nothing less than an at-
tempted thesaurus of Christian Hymnody : — Anthems from
Scripture (i-iio); Scripture Hymns (111-181); Hymns
of the Primitive Church (182-245) ; Hymns of the Ancient
Brethren (246-297) ; German Hymns of the XVIth century
(298-336) ; old Hymns of the Enghsh Church (337-431) ;
German Hymns of the XVHth century (432-481) ; English
Hymns of the same age (482-536) ; English and German
Hymns at the end of the XVHth and in the XVHIth century
(537-695). Such an eclectic undertaking was certainly
remarkable for its time, though probably of greater interest
to us than to those for whose use it was intended.
"Preface of 1754.
■'Spangenberg, Life of Nicholas Lezvis Count Zinacndorf, tr. by
Saml. Jackson, London, 1838, p. 430: Hutton's Memoirs, pp. 302, 303.
'L. Tyerman, The Oxford Methodists, London, 1873, PP- 192, 193 =
Hutton, nt sup.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 265
The second part may be regarded as the authorized
presentation of the "Hymns of the present Congregation
of the Brethren"'* (460 numbered; many without num-
bers) : including so much of the contents of the earher
hymn books as space allowed. The early and exuberant
development of Moravian Hymnody here revealed for our
inspection was vitally connected with that of Herrnhut,
from which much of it was directly translated. It seems
at first like a high-colored and repulsive morbid grow^th
that had been grafted from without upon the stem of
English Hymnody. In reality it was the new development
of a real spiritual life, at first perverted into fantastic
shapes, but capable of culture and ultimately flowering
into a characteristic and permanent type of English
Hymn.
It is desirable that this type be kept in mind while in-
specting the vagaries of the early hymns. It is simply
the embodiment and expression of Zinzendorf's peculiar
type of "heart religion." As in his theology it is enough
to know Christ as sacrificed, while the mysteries of the
Divine nature are ignored as not practical, so in the hymns,
"the Lamb" ever wounded and dying is the chief, almost
the only, object of praise and prayer, to the virtual ignoring
of the Divine majesty. ^*^ The atmosphere of the hymns
is that of a childlike simplicity, a tender devotion to Christ's
person, and a joyful confidence in his passion. Unfortu-
nately Zinzendorf had first to pass through a period when
'The preface of 1754: according to that of the 1789 Collection, "all
such hymns of former Hymn-books used among us, which were
thought to merit a place." But this should not be construed to imply
that Gambold thought that all the hymns he admitted in 1754 had
intrinsic merit. His standard of Hymnody was inconceivably low,
but his preface acknowledges the inferiority of some of the hymns,
put in because "even these little Hymns have got their lovers, who
would be sorry to lose them all at once" (preface, 1754, p. 12).
" "Do not wonder that they scarce speak of any Thing else but the
Wounds, and Blood, and Death, and Atonement of our Redeemer;
for this is the weightiest Matter in Heaven and Earth." Preface to
A second Collection, 1742,
266 THE ENGLISH HYMN
his thinking assumed a mystical vagueness, his zeal flamed
into fanaticism and his affections were perverted by senti-
mentahty : he imposed upon his followers a copious selec-
tion of the "fleshly-spiritual" hymns of Johann Scheffler,
and from them formed his own early style of hymn writing.
Through this valley of humiliation Zinzendorf dragged his
English as well as German followers, and to this period the
Collection of 1754 belongs.
The immediate impression the hymns make upon the eye
is that of foreignness, owing to the unusual metres and
frequent long-drawn-out stanzas. This was due to the
wish of the authorities that the melodies used at Herrnhut
should be retained, no matter in what language the hymns
were sung; and it has continued to give a characteristic
verse-form to Moravian Hymnody in all parts of the world.
The sense of foreignness is increased by the foreign English
of many of the hymns. This was owing partly to the
inherent difficulty of adapting English to German metres,
and partly to the unfamiliarity of some of the translators
with English grammar and the meanings of the words they
used.^^ Whether foreign or native, the English of the
hymns is often illiterate, and much of the verse pure
doggerel ; not unnaturally so since Hutton and Gambold
must have been almost the only educated men among these
hymn writers.^^ Both the foreignness and illiteracy of
^'See the correspondence of James Hutton and "the Director of the
Psalmody," printed at the end of the third part of the collection of
Hymns (2nd ed., 1749), and reprinted in Memoirs of Hutton, appendix
iv, pp. 592, 593-
"Unless we regard Zinzendorf himself as among them. He wrote
one English hymn, translated one of Luther's and versified the Articles
of the Church of England, for the 1754 Collection (see note at end
of preface). John Cennick did not become a Moravian till 1745, and
his well known hymns enter very slightly into the earlier Moravian
hymn books. Of Hutton's hymns there is a selection in the Memoirs.
A few are still in Moravian use; one ("Teach me yet more of Thy
blest ways") is known more widely. It is claimed that Gambold
contributed no less than 11 translations and 28 originals to the Collec-
tion of 1754. A list of these can be found in Tyerman, The Oxford
Methodists, pp. 192, 193.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 267
Moravian Hymnody were gradually removed by redaction
and retranslation, without impairing that German strain
that still testifies to its source.
The Brethren's Hymns of 1754 deal principally with the
slaughtered Lamb, with the emphasis on the physical side
of the passion, — the sweat and blood, the wounds, the
opened side which becomes the sphere of the believers' com-
munion, and the "corpse." They abound in whimsical
allegories and perverted spiritualizations. The ideas con-
veyed by their imagery are often shockingly coarse, and
again unintelligible.^^ The amatory conception of the
mystical union with Christ, and also the Moravian dis-
cipline of the sexes, led to some passages which, however
innocently intended, are undeniably indecent. ^^
2. Wesley Repudiates it (1749)
These hymns of a people with whom he had so nearly
identified himself shocked and chagrined John Wesley: the
more so in view of the fearlier influence of the German
"This (from No. 386) is on a level with much else: —
"O blest Trinity I
And Side's cavity
Of the Son who bore our torment !
Take now towards your Contentment,
This our Cross's Church,
As a glowing torch."
And this (from No. 460) : — •
"Ye Cross's — air birds, swell the notes
Of the sweet Side-hole Song,
That Fountain's Juice will clear your throats.
And help to hold it long.
Each Day and Year shall higher raise
The Side-hole's glory, love and praise :
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
To the Side Gloria!"
"On this unpleasant subject it will be sufficient to instance Hymn
No. 268, and to refer to Southey's Life of Wesley and rise and prog-
ress of Methodism, ed. London, 1846, pp. 172-174, & notes xx and xxi.
268 THE ENGLISH HYMN
hymns upon himself and upon his brother's hymn writing.
Wesley had been captivated by their fervor and piety, and,
with his imperfect knowledge of German, had only partially
apprehended their doctrine and imagery. Charles probably
knew no German, ^^ and must have derived his impressions
at second hand. Henry Ward Beecher gave wide currency
to the view that the Moravian Hymnody was "the fountain
in which Charles Wesley was baptized," and "his hymns
are only Moravian hymns re-sung." ^^ Grossly exaggerated
as is this view, it is true that Charles Wesley caught some-
thing of the Moravian tone and manner, — its atmosphere
of confiding love and a certain familiarity of intercourse
with the Saviour. After he had comprehended the infe-
licities of Moravian Hymnody, John Wesley maintained a
close watch upon his brother's hymns for anything in the
amatory way; and this presumably explains the omission of
"Jesu, Lover of my Soul" from the Methodist Collection
of 1780.
But John Wesley went much farther. As early as 1748,
at that time the declared enemy of Moravianism, he con-
cluded it to be his "bounden Duty ... to publish to all
the World" a few of the Hymns "as a standing Proof, that
there is no folly too gross for those, who are wise above
that is written." ^^ They appeared, without his name, as
Hymns composed for the use of the Brethren. By the
Right Reverend and Most Illustrious C. Z. Published for
the benefit of all mankind, in the year i/4p. This was
followed by the anonymous The Contents of a folio History
of the Moravians or United Brethren, printed in i/4P . . .
zvith suitable remarks. . . . By a Lover of the Light (hon-
don: J. Roberts, 1750); in which special attention was
directed to the hymns embodying the Moravian views of
marriage as admittedly "not fit to be read by any that
^^Jackson, Life of Charles Wesley, vol. ii, p. 456.
'"Introduction to the Plymouth Collection, N. Y., 1855, p. v.
"Journal, Dec. 15, 1758. It is in Extract No. vii (i7S4), P- no;
afterwards suppressed, and restored in the standard ed., vol. iii. p. 389.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 269
attach bad ideas to bad expressions." ^^'^ Zinzendorf de-
clared that '*J. Wesley's extract from our hymn-book has
done us no injury" j'** but it is to be noted that only two of
the hymns selected by Wesley were reprinted in the 1754
book, and that the text of other hymns was somewhat
modified.
The publication of this hymn book, so conspicuous from
its size, attracted renewed attention to the Moravian Hymns.
Their weaknesses were again exposed, by the Rev. John
Watson,^" in A Letter to the Clergy of the Church of the
Unitas Fratrum, concerning a remarkable hook of Hymns
used in the Congregations, pointing out inconsistencies and
absurdities (London, 1756). It is difficult to estimate the
extent to which the Collection of 1754 was actually "used
in the Congregations." ^^ Its size and price were against
it, and the eyes of some must have been opened to perceive
its offensiveness. There is a report that those in authority
endeavored to suppress it: they certainly neither revised it
nor provided anything in its place until years after Zinzen-
dorf's death.
The second authorized hymn book, with 257 numbered
hymns, appeared in 1769 as A Collection of Hymns, chiefly
extracted from the larger Hymn Book of the Brethren's
Congregations (London: at the Brethren's Chapels); and
shows by its very title that, the 1754 book was still of
authority. The abridgment was nominally made upon
complaints of the earlier book as too voluminous, but
incidentally much undesirable material was dropped out.
It was used for twenty years "in all [Moravian] places of
'^See Tyerman, Life of John Wesley, vol. ii, pp. 99, 100. Tyerman
regarded this pamphlet as Wesley's, but there seems to be no evidence
of it. Cf. Green, Wesley Bibliography, p. 71. But Wesley believed and
circulated (see Extract of Journal, No. ix, published in 1759, pp. 5,
74) the scandalous charges of grossly immoral practices among the
Moravians, supported by alleged revelations from within.
^"Memoirs of Hiitton, p. 218.
"Perpetual curate of Ripponden, in the parish of Halifax,
"Preface of 1789.
270 THE ENGLISH HYMN
worship, both at home and abroad, where divine service is
performed in the EngHsh language." -^ And with it closes
the earlier period of English Moravian Hymnody; certainly
the most singular episode in the history of the English
Hymn.
3. The Normal Period of Moravian Hymnody
(1789-1901)
The normal period of English Moravian Hymnody began
with A Collection of Hymns, for the use of the Protestant
Church of the United Brethren. London printed: and sold
at the Brethren's Chapels, MDCCLXXXIX. Zinzendorf
had been dead for twenty-nine years ; Moravian experience
had been sobered and its educational standard elevated. In
this book the early hymns are carefully sifted and the
residue reshaped. New material is drawn from the Barby
Gcsanghuch of 1778 and the collections of other Churches;
and some from manuscript sources, including unpublished
hymns of Cennick, father-in-law of the editor, the Rev.
John Swertner. The usual themes of Christian worship
are provided for, and a rational classification of the hymns
is made. An index of first lines of all the stanzas testifies
to the Moravian custom of singing a single stanza in an
ejaculatory way and of making up a hymn from scattered
stanzas. Such an index became henceforward a feature
of Moravian hymn books. With each hymn is given the
number of the appropriate tune in the Choral BucJi (Leip-
zig, 1784) of the Rev. Christian Gregor (editor of the
Gesangbuch of 1778), which became the standard in Eng-
land. Some few new metres were provided for in the
Rev. Christian Ignatius La Trobe's Hymn-Tunes sung in
the Church of the United Brethren (London, n. d.).
A "new and revised edition" of the Collection appeared
at Manchester in 1801 ; a Supplement in 1808. These were
combined and improved in 1826; and after this date the
''Ibid.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 271
hymn book became Liturgy and Hymns for the use of the
Protestant Church of the United Brethren. The revisions
so far had been in the charge of Bishop Foster.^^ Some
years later the hymn book was officially committed to the
hands of the poet Montgomery, who had been educated at
Fulneck for the Moravian ministry. By him it was sub-
jected to a scrutiny more searching and a rescension more
free than were ever before given to a hymn book ; and the
results were laid before the Provincial Conference of 1847.^"*
The nev/ edition, with Montgomery's revisions and addi-
tions, appeared in 1849. An appendix followed in 1876,
and a further revision in 1886; and the hymn book is once
more in the hands of revisers for a new edition.
During his travels in America Count Zinzendorf estab-
lished at Philadelphia in 1742 a Moravian Church of his
English-speaking converts ;^^ and there is record of the
publication, apparently for their use, oi A choice Collection
of Hymns: with several new translations from the Hymn
Book of the Moravian Brethren. Philadelphia: Isaiah
Warner and Cornelia Bradford, 1/4^.^^ Twenty years
later appeared A Hymn Book for the children belonging to
the Brethren's congregations. Taken chiefly out of the
German little hook. In three books . . . Philadelphia:
printed in the year MDCCLXIII.^" Except for these two
publications the needs of the Philadelphia church and of
°^Holland and Everett, Memoirs of James Montgomery, London,
1854-1856, vol. vii, p. 154.
"''Memoirs of Montgomery, vol. vi, pp. 266, 267; vol. vii, pp. 154-157.
^"Spangenberg, op. cit., p. 315; Abraham Ritter, History of the
Moravian Church in Philadelphia, Phila., 1857, P- IQ- Zinzendorf had
already prepared and printed for the Lutheran and German Reformed
people to whom he preached at Germantown, a little collection of
German hymns new and old, — Hirten Lieder von Bethlehem (German-
town, C. Saur, 1742).
^"Hildeburn's entry of it {Issues of Penna. Press, No. 810) is ap-
parently copied from an advertisement : Evans' {American Bibliog-
raphy, No. 5304) is evidently copied from Hildeburn. Neither had
seen the book.
"There is a copy at Penna. Hist. Soc.
272 THE ENGLISH HYMN
congregations of English-speaking people formed elsewhere
were apparently supplied by importing copies of the suc-
cessive editions of the English hymn book till 1813,^^ when
a reprint of the Manchester Collection of 1801 issued from
the press of Conrad Zentler at Philadelphia. With this the
Supplement of 1808 was included. A reprint of the edition
of 1826 followed and remained in use till 1851. In that
year, by resolution of the Provincial Synod of 1849, ^P"
peared the first American Liturgy and Hymns ( Bethlehem ) ,
based on Montgomery's rescension of 1849. The name of
the author was appended to each hymn, and a reference
given to a suitable tune in the Rev. Peter Wolle's Hymn
Tunes, used in the Church of the United Brethren (Phila-
delphia, 1836). The Liturgy and Hymns of the American
Province of the Unitas Fratrum of 1876 (Bethlehem) was
the result of a movement, begun in the Synod of 1864, to
bring Moravian Plymnody "up to the standard of modern
hymnology, without destroying its Moravian character." ^^
This movement was carried still further in the third edition
of Offices of Worship and Hymns (Bethlehem, 1891),^**
intended for church-schools and prayer and praise meet-
ings.
By these successive revisions in England and America
the Moravian Hymnody was no doubt relieved of much
that was offensive or foolish, its translations were bettered,
its versification made more smooth. But it cannot be
questioned that in the course of the process, notably at
Montgomery's hands, its distinguishing features have be-
come less conspicuous, its characteristic flavor somewhat
diluted ; and there has been incorporated with it a large body
of the hymns common to all the Churches. In the infelicity
of their hymns that aimed to emphasize their sectarian
tenets, and in the progressive tendency of their Hymnody
^* "Prior to that time, hymn-books were imported from England."
Preface to Liturgy and Hymns, Bethlehem, 1876.
■"Preface, p. 6.
'"ist ed., 1866: 2nd ed., 1872.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 273
to conform to a common Christian standard, the experience
of the Moravians has been much Hke that of others who
felt themselves to be "a peculiar people."
Moravian hymn singing has been distinguished by its
emphasis on the spiritual side, the hearty participation of
the whole congregation, its free use of musical instru-
ments, and its devotion to the German choral type of
tunes.^^ Incidentally the division of the congregation into
"choirs," according to sex, age and condition, brought about
special provision for Children's Hymnody; in which field
the Moravians have to be credited with more of priority
than of excellence. In estimating their influence on Hym-
nody, it must be remembered that it was the German rather
than the English Moravian Hymnody which, through its
contact with the Wesleys, put a new warmth into English
hymn singing, and something of its tone of familiar and
confiding love into the English Hymn. Some of Zinzen-
dorf's German hymns have entered into English Hymnody,
through versions of Wesley and others : — notably "Jesus,
Thy blood and righteousness"; "O Thou to whose all-
searching sight"; "Jesus, still lead on"; and "Christ will
gather in His own."
English Moravianism has developed very few hymn
writers of distinction. Of its early contributors, hymns
and translations by John Gambold, James Hutton, John D.
Lilley, John Miller, L. T. Nyberg, John Swertner and some
others, are still in Moravian use; hymns of John Cennick
and William Hammond are in common use. But Cennick's
early hymns were written while he was associated with
Wesley, who corrected them for the press; and much of his
best work was done while assisting Whitefield, who gave
his hymns their circulation. The Psalms, Hymns, and
Spiritual Songs (London, 1745) of Hammond are of merit,
but must have been written before joining the Moravians.
^'For the singing at Fulneck, see J. S. Curwen, Studies in Worship
Music, 2nd series, pp. 57 flf; for that in America, see Ritter, Moravian
Church in Philadelphia, chap. xxv.
274 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Of later Moravian hymn writers C. I. La Trobe and
Bishop F. W. Foster are esteemed within the denomination :
James Montgomery is the one distinguished name. And
he, by reason of the looseness of his affiliations and his
catholic-heartedness, must be counted as belonging to the
general choir rather than with Moravians.
VII
DEFLEXIONS OF METHODIST SONG AFTER
WESLEY'S DEATH
When the lines between Wesleyan Methodism on the
one hand and Moravianism and Calvinistic Methodism on
the other had been definitely established, Wesley himself
became and continued to be the centre of union of the
United Societies. By the Deed of Declaration the United
Societies became, on Wesley's death in 1791, a "Connexion"
but not a separate Church; with provision for a continuance
of Wesley's authority in a Conference of ministers. But
the great question of the relation of the Connexion to the
Established Church remained undetermined, and the people
were unwilling that either an autocrat or body of ministers
should exercise Wesley's authority. There followed a
period of controversy, resistance to authority and schism.
Numerous preachers were expelled; and one after another
of these became the leader of an independent movement,
and with his sympathizers the nucleus of an independent
Methodist sect. In the course of time these seceding bodies
have grown in numbers to constitute in the aggregate almost
one half of British Methodism, and demand therefore some
attention to their Hymnody. In the case of each secession
its leaders and people took in their hearts their warm love
for Methodist Song and in their hands their familiar copies
of Wesley's Collection of 1780. The Collection thus became
the nucleus of the independent Methodist Hymnody, and
with such changes and supplements as gave expression to
HYMNODY OF METHOi:)IST REVIVAL 275
denominational proclivities, continued to form the main
body of it.
(i) The Methodist New Connexion was formed by
the followers of Alexander Kilham, expelled by Confer-
ence in 1796 for administering Holy Communion, and
stood for the rights of the laity, especially that of receiving
the sacraments in their own chapels. Its first Conference
authorized an issue of the Collection, with a significant
supplement of hymns for sacraments and festivals.^- A
few years later a Supplement of 276 hymns was issued,
which passed through several editions. In 1835 appeared
the larger Hymns for the use of the Methodist Nezv Con-
nexion. Principally from the Collection of the Rev. John
Wesley, M.A. In the preface the argument for Social
Praise is traversed de novo. The Collection is regarded
with discriminating admiration, and from it and the Supple-
ment of 1 83 1 the editors extracted "all that which, for
poetic merit," spiritual fitness, "and for adaptation of metre
to the existing taste for psalmody, was suited to the object
which they had in view." This served till the demand
for some of the newer hymns, led to the issue of Hymns
for Divine zvorship. Compiled for the use of the Methodist
New Connexion (London, 1863). For this the sources
of Hymnody were widely examined, and its editor, the
Rev. Henry Piggin, attempted not only to verify the text,
but also to give the authorship and date, of each of its
1024 hymns. The Hymnody of the New Connexion was
happily amalgamated with that of the Wesleyan Methodists
by the official adoption of The Methodist Hymn Book of
1904, in whose preparation representatives of the Connexion
had cooperated.
(2) The Primitive Methodists stood for freedom in
revival methods, and organized after the expulsion in 1808
of Hugh Bourne, caused by his persistence in holding
camp meetings. In this innovation Bourne was much in-
fluenced by the reports brought over by Lorenzo Dow of the
*^A new History of Methodism, vol. i, p. 501.
276 THE ENGLISH HYMN
success of the camp meeting experiment in America. ^^ In
England as in America the camp meeting was felt to
demand a new type of hymn, familiar in style, adapted to
stirring melodies, and making use of the refrain or
"chorus." Bourne had already printed in 1809 A general
Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs for camp-meet-
ings, revivals, &c., in which he made much use of Dow's
hymn book, and included his own characteristic "Camp
Meetings with success are crown'd." The book became so
popular that its sale often paid the expenses of conducting
a mission on new ground ;''''^ and the rude heartiness of the
singing did much to extend the new Church, giving rise to
the expression, "You sing like a Primitive." ^^
The Annual Meeting in May, 1821, directed the prepara-
tion of a larger collection, "properly suited to the purposes
of worship,"^^ which appeared the same year as A Collection
of Hymns, for camp meetings, revivals, &c., for the use
of the Primitive Methodists. Edited by Hugh Bourne
(Bemersly near Tunstall). This collection of 154 Hymns,
including many from the earlier book, came to be known
as The small Hymn Book, and to be widely identified by
its opening couplet : —
"Christ he sits on Zion's hill,
He receives poor Sinners still."
With the demand for more hymns, Bourne issued in
1825 The large Hymn Book, for the use of the Primitive
Methodists. Of its 536 hymns, there are some twenty new
hymns by Bourne, sixteen by William Sanders, a pastor
who afterwards came to America, and 146 by "Hugh Bourne
^^History of the Primitive Methodists. By Hugh Bourne, re-
printed in Lorenzo Dow's Works. See ed. New York, 1854, vol. ii,
p. 267. The American camp meeting and its Hymnody will be duly
considered later in this chapter.
^*A new History of Methodism, vol. i, p. 586 : "Primitive Methodist
Psalmody" in The Choir, No. i, for Jan. 1910, p. 9.
^'^The Choir, ut supra.
'"Preface of Aug. 10, 1821.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 277
and Wm. Sanders, jointly." ^^ Bourne was thus one of
the founders of EngHsh "Camp-meeting Methodism" and
for many years the ruHng spirit of its Hymnody. He
regarded the camp meeting as the development of Wesley's
field preaching, and its songs as a needed supplement to
Wesleyan Hymnody. It is altogether unlikely that Wesley
would have approved the camp meeting, and it is quite
certain that he would have said sharp things of the hymns
of Dow and Bourne and Sanders.
With the growth of the denomination, some years after
the superannuation of Bourne, the Conference put its Hym-
nody into the hands of John Flesher, Bourne's successor in
the Book Room. He prepared, and published in 1854
The Primitive Methodist Hymn Book. Partly compiled
from the large and small Hymn hooks, prepared by the
late Mr. Hugh Bourne, partly from hymns by numerous
popular authors, . . . and enriched zvith original Hymns,
and selected ones, altered or re-made. It was loyally ac-
cepted, widely used (9th ed. 1861), and slightly revised in
1864. Flesher 's sense of unfitness for the task, his depend-
ence on his wife's scrap books, and his denial that "Provi-
dence had stereotyped the production of any poet," are
naively set forth in the preface. His habitual mutilation
of the texts of the hymns must have been a trial to some
"Primitives," and brought some reproach upon the de-
nomination. It is likely that more were annoyed by his
omission of so many revival hymns; and this led to a new
collection for camp meetings, edited by William Harland.^**
But the denomination was growing into a great Christian
community, and must have been gradually elevating its
educational standards, for by its next step in Hymnody
it passed, as by a bound, to the foremost place in the newer
Methodist Church Song. Its new book, prepared by direc-
"For Sanders, and for such of these hymns as are retained in the
standard Hymnal of 1887, see Dorricott and ColHns, Lyric Studies,
hereafter referred to.
^^The Choir, for Jan. 1910, p. 9.
278 THE ENGLISH HYMN
tion of the Conference of 1882, appeared in 1887 as The
Primitive Methodist Hymnal. Of its 1052 hymns, 500 are
Wesleyan : the remainder is a judicious winnowing of the
whole body of Hymnody ancient and modern. Much
editorial care was given to the texts of the hymns, and an
annotated edition appeared as Lyric Studies: a Hymnal
Guide. By Revs. I. Dorricott and T. Collins (London,
n. d. ). After twenty-five years, the Hymnody was further
enriched by a carefully prepared Supplement of 295 hymns,
especially aiming to make use of recent hymns.^^ This
appeared in September, 19 12, and was warmly welcomed
by a Church that delights in being "modern." Doubtless
some future winnowing will reduce the inconvenient bulk
of 1347 authorized hymns.
(3) The United Methodist Free Churches repre-
sent a succession of schisms, whose departures from Wes-
leyan Hymnody are less characteristic. "The Protestant
Methodists" went out in 1827 on occasion of erecting an
organ by the trustees of Brunswick Wesleyan Chapel, Leeds,
in opposition to the majority of the members and the local
preachers.^*' They stood against encroachment upon sim-
plicity of worship, which Wesley so much feared, especially
against instrumental music, the introduction of which
Wesley hedged about with restrictions. Seventy local
preachers and a thousand suspended or revolting members
became the nucleus of Protestant Methodists. With this
body united in 1834 the followers of Dr. Samuel Warren,
father of the famous novelist, expelled during the contro-
versy as to the formation of a theological training school.
The two bodies united as the "Wesleyan Methodist Associa-
tion," and adopted Wesley's Collection, with a small supple-
ment of their own. Another Supplements^ was prepared
""For an authoritative account of it, see The British Weekly for
January 25, 1912.
*"The controversy turned upon technical points. For particulars
see A new History of Methodisvi, vol. i, pp. 425, 426, 514, 517,
"For an account of it, see G. J. Stevenson in Julian, Dicty. of Hym-
nology, p. 731.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 279
in 1853 for a body of "Wesleyan Reformers," formed at
the expulsion of Everett and Dunn'*^ for contumacy.
When the Wesleyan Methodist Association and the
Reformers united in 1857 as "The United Methodist Free
Churches," they appointed James Everett and Matthew
Baxter to prepare a new hymn book, which consisted in
Wesley's Collection, with a Supplement (1861) of 250
hymns. ^^ This served until the appearance in 1889 of
Methodist Free Church Hymns, well prepared, but without
special distinction. In 1907 the Methodist Free Churches
joined with the Methodist New Connexion and the Bible
Christians to form "The United Methodist Church." With
the adoption by that body of The Methodist Hymn Book
of 1904, the Hymnody of the Free Churches rejoined the
main stream of Methodist Hymnody, from which it had
never widely diverged.
(4) The Bible Christians grew out of the expulsion
of William O'Bryan for unauthorized missionary work in
Devon and Cornwall ; and first organized as an independent
congregation at Shebbaer in 181 5. They were separated
from the New Connexion principally for lack of facilities
for intercourse; and their Hymnody is not much differ-
entiated from that of the Wesleyan Methodists, from whom
O'Bryan was no willing seceder. At the time of their first
Conference in 18 19, he prepared a denominational hymn
book, known later as A Collection of Hymns for the use of
the People called Bible Christians. It was enlarged in 1838,
and again revised in 1862. It is little more than a re-
arrangement of Wesley's Collection. A new hymn book
was ordered by the Conference of 1885, and appeared a few
years later with a similar title. In 1907 The Bible Chris-
tians joined with the New Connexion and the Free Churches
to form The United Methodist Church, using The Methodist
Hymn Book of 1904.
"Samuel Dunn, became a hymn writer, and his Hymns for pastors
and people, were published by his brother (London, 1862).
*'Ibid.
28o THE ENGLISH HYMN
The Primitive Methodists are thus left as the only great
body of British Methodists who decline to unite in a com-
mon Hymnody. The Methodist Church of Australasia has
also adopted the English Hymn Book. In Canada the
various divisions of Methodism used Wesley's Collection,
or the book in vogue in the same body at home. With
the union of the Wesleyan Methodists and Methodist New
Connexion in 1874, a new book appeared as Methodist
Hymn Book (iSSo).'*^ It aimed to preserve all the hymns
of 1780 whose use had survived the century, and added
some 300 more. At the great reunion of Canadian Meth-
odism in 1883 the book was adopted by the United Church,
and republished as Methodist Hymn Book. Compiled and
published by authority of the General Conference of the
Methodist Church (Toronto and Halifax, 1884). The
preparation of a new hymn and tune book has been pro-
ceeding since 1910; but many still cherish the hope of a
common Methodist Hymnal for use throughout the world.
VIII
THE HYMNODY OF AMERICAN METHODISM
I. Wesley's Effort to Control it (1784)
John Wesley's first hymn book had been printed in Amer-
ica in 1737, for his use as a Church of England missionary.
As it happened the Hymns and sacred Poems of 1739 was
reprinted by the Bradfords at Philadelphia in 1740.^^
Whitefield had brought it over, and was at work in Phila-
"Music was provided in Methodist Ttiiie Book (Toronto and Hali-
fax, 1881). A belated edition of Wesley's Collection and Supplement
"with accompanying tunes by eminent composers" had appeared in
1874 (Toronto: Methodist Book Room).
*^Hymns and sacred Poems. Published by John Wesley, M. A.,
Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford; and Charles Wesley, M.A.,
Student of Christ Church, Oxford. [Text] Philadelphia: printed by
Andrew and William Bradford, and sold for the benefit of the Poor
in Georgia. MDCCXL.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 281
delphia, but did not reprint the book for use in his meetings,
for which indeed it was poorly adapted. It was pubhshed
by subscription; one of his devices to raise money for
Georgia, where he was carrying forward the Wesleys' work.
By 1766 Embury in New York and Strawbridge in
Maryland began to form Methodist societies. In their
meetings copies of any of the English hymn publications
of the Wesleys that were in the hands of Methodist immi-
grants were presumably made to serve for lining out the
hymns. Three of these were reprinted by Melchior Steiner
of Philadelphia in 1781, gathered into a single volume of
357 pages, in three parts : — i. Hymns for those that seek
and those that have redemption in the Blood of Jesus
Christ (pp. 4, 65) ; ii. Hymns and Spiritual Songs, intended
for the use of real Christians of all denominations (pp. 4,
136) ; and Hi. A Collection of Psalms and Hymns. Pub-
lished by Jo Jin Wesley, M.A., Fcllozv of Lincoln College,
Oxford; and Charles Wesley, M.A., Student of Christ
Church, Oxford (pp. 4, 144). The first of these parts was
the hymn book then in general use in English congregations,
and the second in class meetings ; and in England also it
was customary to bind the two together.'*'' This reprint
was probably for the use of St. George's Church, estab-
lished in Philadelphia about 1770, and having the largest
Methodist house of worship in America.*'^
From time to time Wesley had responded to the appeal
of his American followers for more preachers. When at
length he thought the time had come to organize them into
a church, his provision ranged from his appointment of
"Doctor Coke and Mr. Francis Asbury, to be joint Super-
intendents" to the smallest detail of their worship. He
wished the Sunday worship in America as in England to be
liturgical, and prepared a modification of The Book of
"See R. Green, Bibliography, 2nd ed., 1906, No. 165. In Steiner's
reprint, parts ii & iii are so designated in the heading of each page.
*7no. Lednum, A History of the rise of Methodism in America,
Philadelphia, 1859, chap. v.
282 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Common Prayer, printed at London, 1784, as The Sunday
Service of the Methodists in North America. With other
occasional Services. London: printed in the year
MDCCLXXXIV}^ Having then, as always, a great dread
of the intrusion of doggerel or objectionable hymns into
Methodist Song, he printed at the same time and for the
same use A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the Lord's
Day. Published by John Wesley, M.A., Late Fellow of
Lincoln College, Oxford; and Charles Wesley, M.A., Late
Student of Christ Church, Oxford. London: printed in the
year MDCCLXXXIV. It contained 118 numbers, selected
from the Psalms and Hymns of 1741, one of the most
useful hymn books at home. A supply of these two books
in sheets he sent over by the hands of Coke and his com-
panions, with a commendatory letter, dated from the wharf
at "Bristol, Sept. 10, 1784" where they embarked; advising
"all the travelling-preachers to use [the liturgy] on the
Lord's day, in all their congregations, reading the litany
only on Wednesdays and Fridays, and praying extempore
on all other days."
Coke presented this letter, with the printed sheets, at a
"General Conference" (the first) held at Baltimore in
December, 1784. The Conference "agreed to form a
Methodist Episcopal Church, in which the Liturgy (as
presented by the Rev. John Wesley) should be read, and the
sacraments be administered by a superintendent, elders, and
deacons, who shall be ordained by a presbytery, using the
Episcopal form, as prescribed by the Rev. Mr. Wesley's
prayer-book." ^® After the Conference Coke had Wesley's
"The history of this book is not altogether clear. It appears to
have been prepared before deciding on Dr. Coke's mission, and some
copies apparently preceded him to America. There were two differing
issues of the first edition in 1784. (See sale catalogue of Bishop
John F. Hurst's library, items 2403, 2404.) For later editions, see
Green's Bibliography, appendix to 2nd ed., p. viii.
^''Whatcoat's notes (the italics are his), quoted in Abel Stevens,
History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the U. S. A., New York,
n. d., vol. ii, pp. 183, 184.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 283
letter printed at Philadelphia, as also Minutes of several
conversations between the Rev. Thomas Coke, LL.D., the
Rev. Francis Asbury and others, at a Conference begun in
Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, on Monday, the 2/th
of December, in the year I/84. Composing a Form of
Discipline for the Ministers, Preachers and other members
of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America (Phila-
delphia, Chas. Cist, 1785). He then had the whole col-
lection bound up into one volume as the credentials, the
Liturgy, the Discipline and the Hymn Book of the new
Church.
Wesley's act in preparing a liturgical constitution for
American Methodism, and choosing their psalms and hymns,
was quite characteristic, and its ratification by the Confer-
ence a matter of course. The American bishops presumably
did their best to carry out Wesley's wishes. Authority
was given to "our Helpers to read the Morning and Even-
ing Service out of our Liturgy on the Lord's Day," and the
Preachers were directed to "sing no hymns of [their] own
composing." ^^ Such a prohibition seems strange enough,
in view of the habits of the Wesleys themselves, to say
nothing of Watts and Doddridge. No doubt it was based
on Wesley's own observation of revival scenes, and aimed
to suppress the doggerel verses given out spontaneously
under the excitements of emotional preaching and caught
up by the responsive crowd.
A second edition of the prayer book with the Psalms and
Hymns appeared at London in 1786. In the preface to A
Pocket Hymn Book of 1790, Bishops Coke and Asbury
promised a third edition with "a complete version of the
Psalms, selected from the best divine Poets that have
written." No such edition is known, and the promise dis-
appeared from later issues of the preface. There was, how-
ever, a "fourth edition" (London, 1790) in which prayers
for "George, Thy servant, our King and Governor,'' "and
especially Thy servants the Rulers of these United States"
^Minutes of several Conversations, 1785: Questions 34, 55.
284 THE ENGLISH HYMN
are strangely commingled.'^ ^ This edition also contained the
Psal}}is and Hyjiins.
For a few years The Sunday Service with its hymn book
was used in the principal congregations,^^ but even there
gradually allowed to disappear, with the gowns and bands
of the preachers and other refinements dear to Wesley's
heart. In John Street Chapel, New York, the plan adopted
seems to have been that of so preoccupying the time of
worship with Sunday love-feasts and other exercises that
no opportunity remained for reading The Sunday Service.
In many places the book was never introduced,^^ and was
indeed too large and expensive to meet the conditions of the
time. In the Discipline of 1792, there is for the first time
no mention of The Sunday Service.^^ It had been shelved
by common consent.
In fact the Church that was developing on the field in
America was a different one from that laid out on paper
in England. In his liturgical arrangements Wesley had
ignored the fact that liturgical worship did not accord with
the taste or habits of the class of people who had embraced
Methodism in America. The people were ignorant, the
preachers itinerant, the meetings as often as not in the
cabins or in the fields, and the singing largely without books,
other than the one in the preacher's hand. The tunes must
be very familiar or very contagious, the w^ords given out
one or two lines at a time if not already known. Under
these conditions the development of free ways in worship
and of a rude type of popular song, indifferent to anything
in the way of an authorized Hymnody, seems to have been
inevitable.
"'Also a "fourth edition" of 1792 with the American allusions
omitted.
"Stevens, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 198.
" " 'The Sunday Service' appears never to have been popular in the
American Societies, and w^as laid aside the instant they were free from
the direct supervision of Mr. Wesley." D. Sherman, History of the
Revision of the Discipline, New York, 1874, p. 25.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 285
2. The Struggle Between "Mr, Wesley's Hymns"
AND Popular Songs (1784-1848)
There was much in these conditions that would have
appealed to Wesley's heart. But if he had been on the
field he would have insisted on the intrusion of educational
standards into the revival methods being pursued, and he
would have checked at the fountain head, as even in his
absence he tried to do, the development of an illiterate
and often vulgar Revival Hymnody. Most of all he would
have distinguished between the freer method of field work
and the established sanctities of God's house.
In his absence the bishops had to deal with a consider-
able spirit of "American independence," and much unregu-
lated enthusiasm. American ■Methodism became the fullest
embodiment of a condition obtaining in several denomina-
tions, vis., that the popular religious songs do not necessarily
agree with the authorized Church Song. This no doubt
was an incident of the choice of the revival method of
church growth. It is of the very nature of revival enthusi-
asm to develop its own song, and of all religious agencies
it is the least amenable to church authority. The entire
course of Methodist Episcopal Hymnody may be viewed
as a continuous effort to keep the Church on a level suffi-
ciently described as Wesleyan, and a failure to cooperate
therein on the part of a considerable section of the people
who preferred the plane of the Revival Hymn and the
popular Spiritual Song.
That such was the situation from the very first appears
from the Minutes of a Conference begun in \'irginia and
ended at Baltimore in April and ]\Iay of 1784.^^ The 14th
query was, "How shall we reform our singing?" and the
answer: "Let all our preachers who have any knowledge
in the notes, improve it by learning to sing true themselves,
and keeping close to Mr. Wesley's tunes and hymns."
"Minutes of the Methodist Conferences annually held in America,
from 1773 to 1794, inclusive, Philadelphia, 1795, p. 71.
286 THE ENGLISH HYMN
We are now at the point where the Psalms and Hymns
attached to TJie Sunday Service becomes the first authorized
hymn book of American Methodism, and is proving un-
popular. This suggests the inquiry, What other hymn
books had been in use before its organization and were
still available? Our only information is supplied by the
bishops' preface of 1790, already referred to: —
"The Hymn-Books which have been already published among us
are truly excellent. The select Hymns, the double collection of
Hymns and Psalms (the latter of which may be supplied by a com-
plete version of the Psalms, selected from the best divine Poets that
have written, which we promise to publish with a third and more
complete edition of our Prayer-Book) and the Redemption-Hymns,
display great spirituality as well as purity of diction. The large
Congregational Hymn-Book is admirable indeed, but is too expensive
for the poor, who have little time and less money. The Pocket
Hymn-Book lately sent abroad in these States, is a most valuable
performance for those who are deeply spiritual, but is better suited
to the European Methodists, among whom all the before-mentioned
books have been thoroughly circulated for many years."
This list is somewhat puzzling. A recent historian of
Methodism^*^ has assumed that the opening reference to
the books "already published among us" implies "us Amer-
ican Methodists" ; adding that "these native reprints have
utterly perished." Without insisting that both writers of
the preface were Englishmen, it must be said to be very
improbable that so many "reprints," one of them "large"
and "expensive," should have appeared and disappeared
without leaving a trace. The "select Hymns" is probably
Wesley's Select Hymns: [133] zvith Tunes [102] annext
of 1 761, and which (with or without the tunes) reached
a tenth edition in 1787. Possibly its tunes are those re-
ferred to at the Baltimore Conference. "The double col-
lection of Hymns and Psalms" is presumably the collection
of 1 74 1 in two parts, or its abridgment attached to The
Sunday Service; an enlargement of the Psalms being prom-
ised in connection with a new revision of the Service. "The
"Trof. J. A. Faulkner in A new History of Methodism, London,
igog, vol. ii, p. 142.
HYMNODY OF METFIODIST REVIVAL 287
Redemption Hymns" may refer to either the EngHsh edition
or Steiner's reprint, or to both. "The large Congregational
Ilymn-Book" was surely the standard Collection of 1780;
a book so important that some copies must have been in the
hands of American ministers.
The disparaged "Pocket Hymn Book" is more doubtful.
We know three books of that name then extant: — (i) The
(York) Pocket Hymn Book of Robert Spence, the book-
seller (1781 and later), unauthorized and disapproved of
by Wesley for some '"objectionable" Hymns, (ii) A Pocket
Hymn Book for the use of Christians of all denominations
(London, 1785); Wesley's unsuccessful protest against
Spence. (iii) Wesley's book, with the same title, of 1787;
really an adaptation of Spence's.
There had been apparently a reprint of Spence's book at
New York as early as 1786.^^ Two years later appeared
A Pocket Hymn Book: designed as a constant Companion
for the pious. Collected from various authors. Ninth
Edition.^^ Philadelphia: printed by Joseph James, Chcsnut-
street. M. DCC. LXXXVHL This was Spence's book,
with "Part H," of 27 hymns, added, probably by Bishop
Coke.^^ In 1790 appeared the "tenth" and "eleventh"
editions, with the same title, printed at Philadelphia for
John Dickins, the Book Steward, and containing the
bishops' preface now under discussion. ^^ It is a reprint of
"Our only knowledge is from the item "Pocket Hymn Book,
designed as a Constant Companion of the Pious (Wesley's). New
York, 1786," in A Catalogue of the Liturgies . . . in the Sti>uicckc
Maryland Episcopal Library. Privately printed, iSSi. The book itself
cannot at present be found.
"This does not mean that eight previous editions had been printed
in this country, as is assumed in the Report of the Committee to the
Bishops on The Revision of the Hymn Book of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, New York, 1878, p. 5.
"In choosing, for reprinting, a book Wesley did not like, Coke was
no doul)t led by considerations of its handy size and suitableness, but
it may be noted that Spence was his intimate friend.
•"There appeared also a "ninth edition," with the same title and
contents, and without the bishops' preface of 1790, at Baltimore: printed
for Rice and Co., Market-Street, 1791.
288 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the 1788 book, with the hymns of "Part H" numbered con-
secutively, and with new hymns (258-285) here added by
the bishops. Their preface (already quoted in part)
announces it as "a choice and complete Pocket Hymn Book,"
of which they intend "to strike off an impression of twenty
or thirty thousand copies," to stop "the general cry of our
congregations 'that they cannot procure Hymn-Books.' "
"It has received the Approbation of the Conferences, and
contains many valuable Hymns which the former Editions
did not." As of the former editions so of this, the profits
are to be applied to charitable uses. And all respecting
the authority of bishops and Conference are urged to
purchase no hymn books but those signed by the two
bishops.
There is evidently something interesting here, if only
we knew what it was. Were the bishops annoyed by
surreptitious editions published for private gain (and yet
the congregations "cannot procure Hymn-Books" ) ? And
what was the disparaged "Pocket Hymn-Book lately sent
abroad in these States"? Was it a reprint of Spence's, but
without the bishops' appendix? Or had Wesley sent over
a supply of his Pocket Hymn Book of 1785, unwelcomed
at home?
We cannot say. A link has dropped out of the early
history of American Methodist Hymnody. The certain
thing is that the bishops made up their minds during
Wesley's life that the book of Spence which Wesley dis-
liked so much was better adapted to American conditions
than any of his own, and took steps to furnish the congrega-
tions with an ample supply. They may have argued that
a hymn book for the pocket did not interfere with the
Sunday Psalms and Hymns any more than the permitted
extempore prayers during the week interfered with The
Sunday Service. In fact the extempore prayers and the
Pocket Hymn Book superseded The Sunday Service and
its hymn book. The Pocket Hymn Book, and not the
Psalms and Hymns of 1784, or even the famous Collection
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 289
of 1780, is the nucleus of the Hymnody of American
Methodism. In the eighteenth edition of 1793 the hymns
are increased to 300; and these constituted the authorized
Hymnody till the beginning of the XlXth century. It was
prevailingly but not exclusively Wesleyan. David Creamer
classified its hymns as 223 by Charles and 15 by John
Wesley, 26 by Watts; the remainder by Hart, Cowper,
Medley and others."^
Ezekiel Cooper became book steward in 1800, with
authority to publish approved books. The Pocket Hymn
Book had never been copyrighted and was being reprinted
by outside parties. It was perhaps the suggestion of that
thrifty man to revise the book and secure its copyright.
The revision appeared as The Methodist Pocket Hymn
Book, revised and improved: designed as a constant Com-
panion for the pious of all denominations. Collected from
various authors. Philadelphia: printed by Ezekiel Cooper,
No. 118 North Fourth Street, near the Methodist Church.
1802. Opportunity was taken to drop a few, and add a few
other hymns, to rearrange the contents, and to smooth some
halting lines of the text. The real motive of the revision
appears in the notice that "the copy-right is secured." It
contained 320 hymns. To meet the demand of a growing
Church for more hymns. Daniel Hitt, assistant to Cooper's
successor, and Bishop Asbury,®" laid before the Conference
of 1808, the manuscript of a Supplement. This was
accepted and appeared as A Selection of Hymns from
various authors, designed as a Supplement to the Methodist
Pocket Hymn Book, compiled under the direction of Bishop
Asbury and published by order of the General Conference.
First edition. New York: published by John Wilson and
Daniel Hitt, for the Methodist Connection in the United
States. John C. Totten, printer, 1808. It was published
separately for those who had the earlier book. Bound up
"See A new History of Methodism, vol. ii, p. 143.
°'See extracts from Asbury's Journal in Carl F. Price, The Music
and Hymnody of the Methodist Hymnal, N. Y. [1911], p. 20.
290 THE ENGLISH HYMN
with it, the whole became known as "The Double Hymn
Book" ; an inconvenient arrangement that perhaps explains
its short life.
There had never yet been an American edition of the
Collection of 1780, which Wesley had prepared as a com-
mon hymnal for Methodism. In 18 14 a cheap reprint ap-
peared at Baltimore as A Collection of Hymns, for the use
of the People called Methodists; in miniature. By the Rev.
John Wesley, A.M. First American, from the eighteenth
London, edition (Baltimore: the Diamond Press, 181 4).
To many American Methodists this brought their first
knowledge, and to most their first sight, of what the Wes-
leyan Hymnody was in its fulness and purity; and in the
minds of the curious must have raised many questions both
as to the omissions of their own book and its garbled texts.
At all events the Book Agents, with the assistance of
the Book Committee,^^ prepared and, by authority of the
Conference of 1820, published A Collection of Hymns for
the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church, principally from
the Collection of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., late Fellow
of Lincoln College, Oxford. New York: published by N.
Bangs and T. Mason for the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Abraham Paid, printer, 1821. This change of title in the
authorized hymn book was well adapted to create an im-
pression that the Church had at last changed the basis of
its Hymnody, forsaking Spence, and restoring Wesley. But
the preface made no such claim, professing nothing more
than a revision of "The Double Hymn Book"; omitting
some [fifty] of its hymns, adding a few from Wesley's
Collection, and restoring some injudiciously tinkered texts.
To facilitate the use of this book, and to provide for the
first time something like an authorized body of tunes, the
Book Concern issued The Methodist Harmonist (New
York, 182 1 : rev. ed., by order of Conference, 1833). The
hymn book itself was slightly revised in 1832, and a sup-
"Dr. Floy in The Methodist Quarterly Review, April, 1844, p. 170.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 291
plement was added by Nathan Bangs in 1836; and so
continued in use till 1849.^*
3. A New Type: The Camp Meeting Hymn (1800)
Having followed so far the authorized Methodist Hym-
nody, we have now to consider a marked development of
its freer side in connection with the Great Revival of 1800.
The Revival was not distinctively a Methodist movement,
but began in Logan County, Kentucky, under the preaching
of a Presbyterian Boanerges, the Rev. James McGready.
The unique feature of the Revival was the camp meeting.
The first one was held near the Caspar River Church in
July, 1800. The people far and wide had been notified by
Mr. McGready to come prepared to encamp on the ground ;
and a great concourse formed a regular encampment of
tents or covered wagons in the form of a hollow square,
with a preaching-stand and rows of logs for seats in the
centre.^^ The camp meeting idea was received with im-
mense favor, and "spread like wild-fire" through Kentucky,
into the Cumberland settlements of what is now Tennessee,
into the Northwestern Territory and through the Caro-
hnas.^®
The Presbyterian clergy of the Kentucky settlements
participating in this revival were not more than five,^' the
general body standing aloof. The assistance of the Meth-
odists was thus the more welcome; and once admitted as
assistants they soon became leaders, and gained the pre-
ponderating influence. This was natural enough in view of
their emotional enthusiasm and familiarity with revival
methods. But in the judgment of a Presbyterian historian
"For a critical examination of the whole contents, see an article
[by Dr. J. Floy] in The Methodist Quarterly Review, April, 1844,
pp. 165-206. All of its hymns are annotated in D. Creamer, Methodist
Hymnology, New York, 1848.
'^Robert Davidson, History of the Presbyterian Church in the State
of Kentucky, New York, 1847, p. 134.
"^Ibid., pp. 135, 136.
''■'Ibid., p. 135.
292 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of the Revival the Methodist predominance was gained
largely by means of their hymns and hearty hymn-
singing : —
"They succeeded in introducing their own stirring hymns, familiarly,
though incorrectly, entitled 'Wesley's Hymns' ; and as books were
scarce, the few that were attainable were cut up, and the leaves
distributed, so that all in turn might learn them by heart. . . . This
will be acknowledged to have been of itself a potent engine to give
predominance to the Methodists, and to disseminate their peculiar
sentiments." '**
The book thus referred to was presumably The Pocket
Hymn Book, of which the "23rd edition" had just ap-
peared,^^ and the hymns those long familiar in Methodist
use. But with the tumultuous enthusiasm that soon de-
veloped, the old hymns were felt to be too sober to express
the overwrought feelings of the preacher and the throng.
Spontaneous song became a marked characteristic of the
camp meetings. Rough and irregular couplets or stanzas
were concocted out of Scripture phrases and every-day
speech, with liberal interspersing of Hallelujahs and re-
frains. Such ejaculatory hymns were frequently started
by an excited auditor during the preaching, and taken up
by the throng, until the meeting dissolved into a "singing-
ecstasy" culminating in a general hand-shaking. Some-
times they were given forth by a preacher, who had a sense
of rhythm, under the excitement of his preaching and the
agitation of his audience. Hymns were also composed
more deliberately out of meeting, and taught to the people
or lined out from the pulpit.
Many of these rude songs perished in the using, some
were written down, passing from hand to hand. The
camp meeting song books which began to appear in the
first decade of the XlXth century doubtless contain such of
these as proved effective and popular. The song books
represent also a second stage of Camp Meeting Hymnody,
the development of a special class of song writers making
^^Ihid., p. 141.
'"Philadelphia: H. Tuckness, 1800.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 293
more effort to conform to the rules of rhetoric and versifi-
cation and with more claim to permanent use.
A distinctive type is thus established, the Camp Meeting
Hymn. It is individualistic, and deals with the rescue of
a sinner: sometimes in direct appeal to "sinners," "back-
sliders," or "mourners"; sometimes by reciting the terms
of salvation; sometimes as a narrative of personal experi-
ence for his warning or encouragement. The Camp Meet-
ing Hymn is not churchly, but the companionships of the
rough journey to the camp reappear in songs of a common
pilgrimage to Canaan, the meetings and partings on the
ground typify the reunion of believers in Heaven, and the
military suggestions of the encampment furnish many
themes for songs of a militant host, brothers in arms in the
battle of the Lord. In Kentucky the martial spirit of the
Revolution had been kept alive and developed by Indian
wars as nowhere else in the Union f^ and the military ideal
pervades many of these early songs. A longing for the
heavenly rest and a vivid portrayal of the pains of hell
were both characteristic; and a very special group of hymns
was designed for the instruction and encouragement of
the "seekers," who at the close of the sermon came forward
to the stand or "altar," and occupied the "anxious bench."
The literary form of the Camp Meeting Hymn is that of
the popular ballad or song, in plainest every-day language
and of careless or incapable technique. The refrain or
chorus is perhaps the predominant feature, not always
connected with the subject-matter of the stanza, but rather
ejaculatory. In some instances such a refrain was merely
tacked on to a familiar hymn or an arrangement of one.
In its purely emotional aim the Camp Meeting Hymn is
not perhaps singular, but the crudity of its methods and
effects sometimes makes it very harrowing to refined feel-
ings and seemingly destructive of reverence.
Of the tunes to which the Camp Meeting Hymns were
™C/. B. St. James Fry in The Methodist Quarterly Review, July,
1859, p. 408.
294 THE ENGLISH HYMN
sung the leaders demanded nothing more than contagious-
ness and effectiveness. Their attitude was expressed in the
query attributed to Wesley, — "Why should the devil have
all the good tunes?" and was embodied in a favorite hymn
called "Wesley's music." ^^ Their resources were what
might be expected of men in a situation almost apart from
books : words were adapted to the popular melodies then
current and to remembered songs, or to tunes that had
been used on circuit; and simple melodies were composed
on the spot. These latter were not written down in the
camps or printed in the song books, but through all the
XlXth century the "Social Hymn Books" of various
churches contained tunes, still familiar, whose origin was
more or less correctly ascribed to the "Western Revival."
It is likely also that the negro "spirituals" embody many
reminiscences of the revival melodies of the South.
The camp meeting became and for many years con-
tinued to be the distinctive method of Methodist evangel-
ization and church growth in practically all parts of the
country.'^- Many of the song books of the earlier years
have doubtless perished. Hymns and Spiritual Songs for
the use of CJiristians: including a number never before
published was first printed at Philadelphia in 1803 by John
W. Scott (a Presbyterian), and reached a ninth edition by
181 2. It was plainly inspired by the Revival, and con-
tains many songs of the sort sung in camps. Wiatt's im-
partial Selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Phila-
delphia: Solomon Wiatt, 1809), with its "Methodists'
Song" and "Shouting Song" was militantly Methodist, and
"It began:—
"Enlisted in the cause of sin,
Why should a good be evil?
Music, alas ! too long has been,
Press'd to obey the Devil."
No. cxxvi in a collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs without title-
page, but bought "the 25 of Sept., 1813."
"C/. Stevens, op. cit., vol. iv, pp. 238, 427, 432.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 295
of the proselyting type, as its "The Beauties of Predestina-
tion" and "Against the Calvinian Doctrine" sufficiently
attest. It contains however but one hymn marked "For a
Camp Meeting."
Probably the Hymnody of the Kentucky Revival, so far
as preserved, and certainly the hymns most used through
immediately following years in Methodist camp meetings
throughout the Kentucky and Tennessee circuits, appear
in The Pilgrim Songster; or a choice Collection of Spiritual
Songs: zuith many songs never before in print. By Thomas
S. Hinde. It was published in 18 10 and reached a third
edition in 1828 (at Cincinnati), and appears to have been
printed surreptitiously at Baltimore and Philadelphia. Of
its 120 hymns, the authorship of nearly one half was even
then unknown to the compiler : but nearly a third of the
whole number were written by two members of the Western
Conference, John A. Granade and Caleb Jarvis Taylor."^
These never found their way into the authorized books,
but were widely known and lo\ed through the Western
settlements.'^'*
The Camp Meeting Hymn appears as a recognized type
as early as 181 1 and as far East as Poughkeepsie in Hymns
on select passages of Scripture: with others usually sung
at Camp-meetings, &c. Of this there was also a Chambers-
burg imprint of the same year. And very soon the making
of song books for use in camp meetings begins to assume
the proportions of what looks like an industry.
John J. Harrod's Social and Camp-Meeting Songs for
the pioiis'° appeared at Baltimore in 181 7, was a favorite
in the South, and reached a fourth edition in 1822. Songs
'Tor the book, its hymns and its associations, see the paper by
B. St. J. Fry, already referred to.
~*Cf. Stevens, History of M. E. Church, vol. iv, p. ii6,
""For the pious." This unpleasant phrase was Spence's (see ante)
and had just figured in the title of a Philadelphia book, A choice
Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Designed for the use of
the pious (Jonathan Pounder, 1814). The book was not revivalistic,
and to it the Presbyterian, E. S. Ely, contributed.
296 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of Zion. Being a Collection of Hymns, for the use of
Christians. By a preacher of the Gospel of Christ Jesus
(Haverhill, 1818) represents the New Light movement '^^
which had an almost simultaneous origin among the Meth-
odists in North Carolina under James O'Kelley, the Bap-
tists of New England under Abner Jones and Elias Smith,
and the Presbyterians in the Kentucky Revival under
Barton W. Stone."^ The three parties had united in 1806
as "Christians," and Elias Smith had made for them A Col-
lection of Hymns, for the use of Christians, which reached a
fourth edition at Portland, Maine, in 181 1. Both books are
of the camp meeting type and on the camp meeting level,
though actually used in field meetings, halls and churches,
rather than camps.
The Camp-Meeting Chorister . . . for the pious of all
denominations (Philadelphia: J. Clarke, 1827) was plainly
a publisher's enterprise, but was well received, and after
passing through three printings was enlarged in 1830.
Immensely popular was The Zion Songster of Peter D.
Myers, printed at New York in 1829 and reaching a ninety-
fifth edition in 1854. It was a gathering of the songs
"generally sung at camp and prayer meetings and in
revivals."
The fiery anti-slavery agitator, Orange Scott, printed at
Brookfield, 1830, A new and improved Camp Meeting Hymn
Book. It was intended for New England use, and "suits
the Compiler better than any he has ever seen." Also for
New England use was A choice Selection of Hymns and
Spiritual Songs, designed to aid in the devotions of prayer,
conference, and camp-meetings (Windsor, Vt., 1836). With
these we may group a still later New England book, M. L.
Scudder's Songs of Canaan, which in the second edition of
" "I know not any sect nor part,
But such as are New-Lights in heart." From Hymn 7.
"For the movement itself see Stevens, op. cit., vol. iii, pp. 30 ff;
The Life, conversion, etc., of Elias Smith. Written by himself, vol. i,
Portsmouth, N. H., 1816; and Davidson, op. cit., chap, viii, "The New
Light Schism."
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 297
1842 became The Weslcyan Psalmist. It was distinguished
by printing the melodies, familiar or new.
Harrod had claimed inclusiveness for his later book,
The new and most complete Collection of camp, social and
prayer meeting Hymns (Baltimore, 1830), with 276 hymns
and the "usual choruses." But no less than 478 were in-
cluded in the next Baltimore book. Pious Songs. Social,
prayer, closet and camp meeting Hymns, and choruses.
(2nd ed., Baltimore, 1836). The Sweet Singer of Israel
(Pittsburgh, 1837), edited by Alfred Brunson and Charles
Pitman, was probably for the Ohio market, where James
Quinn had himself "superintended one hundred and thirty
or forty camp-meetings." "^^
The camp meeting was not exclusively Methodist. The
title of "General Camp Meeting," applied from the first
in Kentucky, indicated Presbyterian and Baptist coopera-
tion. But camp meetings hardly became distinctive of
Baptist revivalism, and among Presbyterians were generally
regarded as alien and undesirable. The Cumberland
Presbytery was accused of irregularities in ordaining
preachers to meet the demand of the Kentucky Revival
and was dissolved by the Synod of Kentucky. Its
"Revival members" organized at first as an inde-
dependent "Council," then as a new Cumberland Presby-
tery, and with their followers established "The Cumber-
land Presbyterian Church" in February, 1810. The new
Church may be said to have been born at a camp meet-
ing, and amid such surroundings it continued to feel pre-
eminently at home for some forty years. It was singular,
perhaps unique, in that for all but five of these years it had
no authorized Hymnody.'^^ Methodist, Baptist and other
hymn books were in its pulpits, and from them the hymns
were lined out. But of these the current camp meeting
song books were the favorites, and the Spiritual Song
"Stevens, op. cit., vol. iv, p. 349.
'"C/. B. W. McDonnold, History of The Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, 4th ed., Nashville, 1899, p. 315.
298 THE ENGLISH HYMN
rather than the Hymn was for many years the standard of
its Praise.
The camp meeting was originally justified by the scat-
tered settlements of a new comitry and its lack of meeting
houses. From the beginning it revealed elements of danger,
and carried the seeds of inevitable dissolution in the intense
excitement under which it was carried on and its wide
production of hysteria and other nervous complaints.^*^
Among the Cumberland Presbyterians the camp meeting
"died a lingering death" in' the decade from 1840 to 1850.^^
Among Methodists it stayed longer, though the later Meth-
odist song books are less characteristically "for the camp,"
and less addicted to the Camp Meeting type of Hymn. As
the camp meeting was displaced by the more decorous
protracted services of the modern summer settlement, so
the Camp Meeting Plymn gave way to the modern type of
Spiritual Song associated with the names of Moody and
Sankey. For under any circumstances the love of "popular"
song abides. The same streak in human nature that de-
lights in the strains of the music hall demands the "spirit-
ual song" of a kindred type. And possibly an element that
conscientiously flees the associations of the music hall is
the most insistent upon a compensatory light music in the
Sunday school and the church.
4. Efforts to Reinstate and to Modernize the
Wesleyan Hymnody (184 7- 1 905)
We return to the authorized Methodist Hymnody at a
time of discontent with the continued use of the Collection
of 1 82 1 and its Supplement, and of agitation for a more
convenient and adequate hymn book. In the midst of
which the Southern conferences separated from the main
body on the graver issue of slavery, and in May, 1846, held
*"The "Jerks" "became epidemic from Michigan to Louisiana,"
Stevens, vol. iv, p. 432.
"'McDonnold, pp. 370, 371.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 299
the first General Conference of "The Methodist Episcopal
Church, South." That body found time, even in the stress
of reconstruction, to debate the usefulness of "particular
meter hymns" before deciding to appoint a commission to
prepare a revised hymn book of its own.^^ It appeared
at Nashville in 1847 <^^ -^ Collection of Hymns for public,
social and domestic worship, containing 1047 hymns; some
600 of them by the Wesleys and 150 by Dr. Watts.^^ Four
years later its principal compiler, Thomas O. Summers,
also a hymn writer, put forth through the Book Agency
Songs of Zion: a Supplement to the Hymn Book of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Its 503 hymns are
mainly those for which he could not find room in the
authorized book, but he consented to admit some "doggerel
Hymns" in hope of winning over those persisting in intro-
ducing camp meeting song books. The Supplement was
evidently intended to rank with the "Social Hymn Books"
of the North, and after twenty-two years' use, was slightly
enlarged (1873).
In May, 1848, the Northern Church also appointed a
committee of revision, whose book appeared as Hymns for
the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Revised
edition (New York: Lane and Scott, 1849). The revision
was largely inspired by Dr. James Floy and, owing to his
zeal and care, it gave American Methodism the fullest and
most correct presentation of the Wesleyan Poetry it has
ever had. For the intensely practical mind of American
Methodism had from the first discriminated in its use of the
"There is a sufficient account of its proceedings in Carl F. Price,
The Music and Hymnody of The Methodist Hymnal, New York and
Cincinnati, n. d. [191 1], pp. 23, 24.
*^For a detailed review, see "The New Hymn Book" in The Quar-
terly Review of the M. E. Church, South for January, 1848, pp. 69-131.
As illustrating the state of hymnological knowledge of the time, we
note that of its "anonymous hymns," the reviewer states that "Rock
of Ages" has, by Richard Watson and others been confidently claimed
for C. Wesley; by others, however, ... as confidently claimed for
Toplady." After carefully weighing the evidence he finds it "impos-
sible to determine . . . which of them is the author" (p. 128).
300 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Wesley s' hymns, and had taken no steps to make the body
of the Wesleyan Poetry familiar or even accessible to its
people.
The Hymns of 1849 was to remain the authorized book
for thirty years, and was several times set to music.*^ But
it had hardly appeared before complaints began that it
served better as a collection of devotional poetry than as a
congregational hymn book. The church hymn book became
less than ever a bond of unity and means of uniformity in
worship, and served many dissatisfied pastors and ambitious
compilers as a point of departure.
Their private ventures came from the press in consider-
able number. Differing in purpose and quality as they did,
the Social Hymn Book type may be said to have modified
and then succeeded the Camp Meeting Song Book type.
Intended for prayer and conference meeting, the Social
Hymn Book sought a mean between "the stern and elevated
literary taste" of the church hymn books and "the light and
irreverent style of singing" of the song books, "tending to
dissipate rather than inspire true devotion." "Every Church
needs a social hymn book," said Stephen Parks in the
preface (from which we have just quoted) of his MctJiodist
Social Hymn Book (New York : Carlton and Porter, 1856) ;
to which debatable proposition most denominations would
at that time have assented. McDonald and Hubbard's The
Wesleyan Sacred Harp (Boston, 1855) offered pleasing
melodies for social worship, and made large use of the
authorized Hymns. The Chorus of A. S. Jenks and D.
'*Hymns for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church. With
tunes for congregational zvorship. [ed. by Sylvester Main and William
C. Brown.] New York: Carlton and Porter [1857].
The Heart and Voice; . . . Hymn and Tune Book, designed for
congregational singing in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for
congregations generally. [Ed. by A. S. Jenks.] Philadelphia: Perkin-
pine and Higgins [1865].
New Hymn and Tune Book: an offering of praise for the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Edited by Philip Phillips. N. Y. : Carlton and
Lanahan [i{
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 301
Gilkey (Philadelphia: 4th ed., 1858) aimed to perpetuate
in the class room and prayer meeting the most illiterate
and vulgar type of camp meeting chorus and song. H.
Mattison's Sacred Melodies for social worship (New York,
1859) applied the same aim to the better class of songs,
and is still interesting for its hitherto unprinted camp meet-
ing and popular melodies, "written out from the lips of
those who knew them," and as actually sung.
The active career of Philip Phillips, "the Singing Pil-
grim," lay largely within the period of thirty years now
under review. His songs ministered to and increased the
appetite for popular religious song, and his very numerous
publications serve to mark the transition from the Social
Hymn Book type to the modern "Gospel Hymns" type
arising with the development of an order of singing evan-
gelists. The new books were introduced into Methodist
gatherings and Sunday schools and then boldly into the
church services. In many quarters such books as Devotional
Melodies, The Zion Songster, IVinnowcd Hymns, Hallowed
Songs, and Chautauqua Carols rivalled or even displaced
the authorized hymn book. In 1879, the Methodist Quar-
terly declared : —
"Lyrically, or hymnically, the Methodist Episcopal Church is de-
moralized to an extent that would call down the heartiest denuncia-
tions of John Wesley, and of St. Paul too, could they enter upon a
fresh tour of episcopal supervision. Denominational purity, uni-
formity, efficiency, and progress, all unite in imperative demand for a
revised Hymnal." "
The reviewer was pleading for a revision already accom-
plished and awaiting approval. It had been pressed upon a
reluctant General Conference (vainly in 1872, successfully
in 1876) by those of the leaders who felt that the authorized
Hymnody was suffering because it had been allowed to
fall behind the times. A great body of modern hymns
^''Dr. R. Wheatley, "The revised Methodist Hymnal," in The Meth-
odist Quarterly Review, July, 1879, p. 525. The above list of fugitive
song books, which might be much enlarged, is confined to those
mentioned by the reviewer as then in especial vogue.
302 THE ENGLISH HYMN
had grown up. even a new (Anglican) school of church
music, both occupying new ground. The Baptists, Congre-
gationalists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, had already
taken possession of the new ground, and it behooved the
Methodists to follow, even to the casting aside of so much
of their familiar and characteristic Hymnody as had now
lost its appeal.^'' Such counsels prevailing in 1876, the
project was put in the hands of a representative committee
of fifteen, who worked in geographical sections, and finally
presented to the Board of Bishops a new book with tunes,
appearing as Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church
(New York and Cincinnati, 1878).
The problem of adding a new Hymnody to an old already
too large was great. 381 numbers of the old book were
dropped; but even so 767 remained, to which were added
371 new hymns, making a total of 1138.^^ The size of
the new book followed the bad fashion of the time;^® but
the collection was bound to suffer for it, since so great a
bulk transcends the limited sphere of the affections and
appalls the memory. Much of this material served no good
end. The musical settings under the authority of the com-
mittee were of very mixed character and not always in the
best interests of Congregational Song. But on the whole
the new Hymnal was fairly abreast with the denominational
hymnals of the time and was like them in being less dis-
tinctively denominational than of old and more catholic-
hearted.^^
In the Church at the South, the desire for a small hymn
book for poorer churches and social meetings was met by
the pubHcation of The nezv Hymn Book (Nashville; So.
'°C/. Report of Committee on Revision to the Bishops, New York,
1878, pp. 6, 8, 14.
"Report, p. 22.
^Songs for the Sanctuary had 1342 hymns.
^''The contents of the Hymnal may be studied in the carefully
annotated edition of Dr. Charles S. Nutter, Hymn Studies, New York,
1884; 2nd ed. 1888; 3rd ed., 1897. Its appended "History of official
hymn books" omits the first.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 303
Meth. Publ. House, 1881), prepared under authority of the
Conference of 1878. It was httle more than selections
from the larger hymn book, with the addition of some
"spiritual songs." The new book was inadequate for all
church occasions, but the feeling still remained that the
Church book was too large. It should be cleared of useless
material to an extent permitting selections from the later
Hymnody. The Conference of 1886 authorized a new
hymnal upon these lines; the whole number of hymns not
to exceed 800. The book appeared as Hymn Book of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South (Nashville, 1889) ; and
also set to music as Hymn and Tune Book. The preface is
perhaps more Wesleyan than the book as a whole; the
hymns ascribed to Charles Wesley numbering 294 out of a
total of 918. The collection, if more than ample, was a
good one for its time and constituency.^*^
We have now come to a period of change so rapid that
by the beginning of the XXth century even so recently
made hymn books as those of the Methodists began to
wear an old-fashioned look. It was no doubt a conscious-
ness of change in feeling and in the emphasis of Methodist
faith, together with a new desire to magnify the things held
in common, that stirred the Methodists in America as in
England to revise their Hymnody.
Numerous memorials had come to the Northern Con-
ference of 1900, setting forth that by reason of its size
the Hymnal of 1878 was not used in many churches, in
which song books, ''often pernicious," took its place. These
furnished sufficient ground for authorizing the preparation
of a new hymnal, "of about 600 hymns." Spurred on by
its Committee on Federation, the same Conference invited
the other branches of Methodism to join in preparing a
common catechism, order of worship, and hymn book.
Under this conflicting legislation the preparation of a de-
nominational hymnal had proceeded to the point of being
""An annotated edition by Prof. Wilbur F. Tillett, appeared at Nash-
ville in 1889 as Our Hymns and their authors.
304 THE ENGLISH HYMN
announced for publication in 1902 when it was suspended
by the bishops in the interest of the common hymnal project.
In the South the desire for "a pan-Methodistic Hymnal"
had been voiced (thus euphoniously) at the Conference of
1886.^^ That of 1902 authorized the bishops to join with
those of the North in preparing such a book. The result
of the labors of the joint commission was published through
the Book Agents, North and South, in 1905 as The Meth-
odist Hymnal. Official Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal
Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It
had 717 Hymns against 1 138 in the hymnal of the Northern
and 918 in that of the Southern Church. More significantly
it had 129 of Charles Wesley as against 563 in 1849, 3 10
in 1878, and 294 in 1889.
The Hymnal appeared in an unprecedented edition of
576,000 copies,^^ and received an amount of attention from
the press also unprecedented. From the outside it was
obvious that in its hymnological and musical standard the
new book marked a great advance over its predecessors.
The only Methodist hymnal with which it could be com-
pared was the English Methodist Hymn Book of 1904.
The two were not unlike in spirit and method, but the
American was smaller by 264 hymns and carried on the
American tradition of a less full representation of the
Wesleyan Hymns : its musical standard was more "popular"
and less "Anglican" than the English.
From within the Hymnal evoked much appreciation, and
also much criticism, which, however sincerely deprecating
the modernization of Methodist Hymnody, was often ill-
informed. It is to be regretted that the characterization
of the book by a recent historian of American Methodism
" "Report of the Committee on Hymn Book."
"■'Carl F. Price, The Music and Hymnody of the Methodist Hymnal,
N. Y. [1911], p. 55. This contains a full account of the preparation
of the Hymnal and description of its contents. There is also an
annotated edition of the Hymnal: The Hymns and Hymn writers of
the Church, ed. by Dr. Charles S. Nutter and Wm. F. Tillett, N. Y.
and Nashville, 191 1.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 305
as "a. scanty product, good as far as it goes," whose lack of
bulk "will make the suppression of the 1907 [sic] book a
necessity in a short time," should be incorporated as though
a part oi A neiv History of Methodism, ^^ rather than a
dissenting opinion. If the history of American Methodist
Song makes anything clear, it is the unwisdom of author-
izing a Hymnody too large for convenience or familiarity,
and so justifying the intrusion of unauthorized song books
that are at least handy. The moderate proportions of the
Hymnal indicate rather one of several directions in which
its compilers have sought to bring Methodist Song abreast
with the best contemporary standards.
IX
DIVERGING CURRENTS OF AMERICAN
METHODIST HYMNODY
American Methodism has suffered many schisms, occa-
sioned by problems of race and slavery or by revolt from
what was regarded as tyrannical in Methodist Episcopacy.
The hymn books of these dissenting bodies were declara-
tions of independence rather than the embodiment of sec-
tarian doctrine or usages ; and it is the measure and manner
of this independent spirit as applied to the Hymnody that
gives these hymn books such interest as they have.
(i) The Reformed Methodist Church began with
the secession of a few farmers and mechanics in two Ver-
mont towns, and in 18 14 adopted congregationalist govern-
ment.^^ The Reformed Methodist Pocket Hymn Book
soon appeared, and a revised edition in 1828 at Taunton,
excluding some hymns "thought to be improper." It had
a first book of hymns from the current Methodist Episcopal
Collection, a second from Watts, and 27 "favourite pieces."
"London, 1909, vol. ii, pp. 145, 146.
**Wesley Bailey in Rupp, History of Religious Denominations in
U. S., Philadelphia, 1844, pp. 466 ff.
3o6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
The Watts section implies deference to proselytes from
Congregationalism. The reference of each hymn to its
page in the Collection or its number in "Watts" shows that
many (no doubt from poverty) brought to the Reformers'
services the books to which they had been accustomed.
(2) The Methodist Society was a secession in 1820
from the John Street Church in New York after disputes
concerning administration.^^ William M. Stilwell, their
first pastor, issued A Selection of Hymns for worship (New
York, 1821), and the temporary growth of the movement
for liberty called for a second edition in 1825. It was a
free selection of 426 hymns, classified in Wesley's fashion.
(3) The African Methopist Episcopal Church
printed its own hymn book of 314 hymns and spiritual
songs at Philadelphia in 1818; claimed as "the first Book
of Song published by the Children of Oppression, the very
first to give expression in their own selected language, of
the Christian hope of the race." ^^ George Hogarth, the
Book Steward, made much trouble by copyrighting a new
edition of 1836 as his personal property: but the Church
regained control and issued reprints up to 1872.
Since 1868 the book had been in the hands of Bishop
H. M. Turner for revision, and in 1873 the Publication
Department issued at Philadelphia The Hymn Book of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church; being a Collection of
Hymns, Sacred Songs and Chants, designed to supersede
all others hitherto made use of in that Church. Selected
from various authors. It was a dumpy and independent
little book. Some Methodist bodies had been weakening
their addiction to the Wesleyan Hymnody, aiming to be-
come eclectic. Bishop Turner reversed the process, revert-
ing to that Hymnody so largely that his book "may be
regarded as strictly a Wesleyan hymn book." In other
Methodist bodies the authorities were aiming to suppress
the camp meeting songs. Bishop Turner on the other
'^W. M. Stilwell in Rupp, op. cit., p. 424.
^'Preface: ed. of 1898, p. xi.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 307
hand was confronted with revival outbursts of "negro
spirituals," which he thought "devoid of both sense and
reason" f^ and to drive them out reintroduced a large num-
ber of the "precious old 'Zion' songs," and some of the new
"Gospel Hymns." This was the authorized hymn book from
1873 to 1892, and in those years of the Church's upgrowth
that began after the civil war its sale was very large. "The
old hymns gave way to the new, and the children of freedom
sang a new song from their own Church Book."
Under directions of the Conference of 1888 both to
revise this and to prepare a new (musical) hymnal "separate
and apart from our Church hymn book," there appeared
first Hymnal adapted to the doctrines and usages of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church (Philadelphia, 1893)
mainly an abridgment of the 1873 book, but with some
originals by bishops and ministers; and later The African
Methodist Hymn and Tune Book (Philadelphia, 1898),
with an increase of some 200 hymns and a musical standard
suggesting that of the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal of
1878. The book was prepared under difficulties, and its
publication was hailed in a letter from the Bishops as "the
consummation so devoutly wished for and prayed for by
our fathers — a Hymn and Tune Book of our own to be
used by our people."
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church,
through most of its long career, has had to content
itself with the use of current Methodist Episcopal hymn
books. In 1888 it adopted Philip Phillips' antiquated setting
of the Hymns of 1849, originally appearing in 1866,^^ and
reprinted it as New Hymn and Tune Book: an offering of
Praise for the use of the African M. E. Zion Church of
America. Only recently has the denomination attained the
satisfaction of having a hymn book of its own.
(4) The Methodist Protestant Church was organ-
ized in 1830 by the reformers who had long contended for
""His preface, June 2, 1873.
'"'See ante, note 84.
3o8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the rights of the laity. Among them were John J. Harrod
of Bahimore, whom we have met with as an industrious
compiler of song liooks, and Thomas H. Stockton, a con-
tributor of verses to the periodicals who had the editorial
instinct. Some use was made of Harrod's books, and
Stockton became editor of the Hymn Book of the Methodist
Protestant Church. Compiled by authority of the General
Conference (Baltimore, 1837: 2nd ed., 1838; 4th, 1842).
It "was the first Methodist Hymn Book to give the names
of authors," ^^ and its 829 hymns represent a wide survey
of the field. It has also been characterized as "the best
Methodist hymn book which had appeared up to that
time." i«o
After twenty-two years appeared the Hymn Book of the
Methodist Protestant Church. Compiled by authority of
the General Conference of 18^8 (Baltimore, 1859). More
than half of it was from the earlier book, and 73 spiritual
songs were appended, to obviate recourse to revival song
books. An unusual step was calling upon David Creamer
as a hymnologist "to verify the hymns," ^"^^
In the meantime the Northern and Western conferences
had gone ofif on the slavery issue, and regarded the new
Southern book as tainted. A scheme for joining with the
Wesleyan Methodists in preparing a common hymnal tar-
ried, and, in the pressing need of supplying the churches
with something, a hymn book for Methodist Protestants
alone was put together and hurriedly and imperfectly printed
in 1860.^*^^ Seven years later these conferences organized
•'See note in T. H. Stockton, Poems (Phila., 1862), p. 305. The
opening and two other hymns in the Hymn Book were his : for others,
see Poems. Stockton was a prominent figure, but his hymns are for-
gotten. His "Stand up for Jesus !" appeared in a volume so named
(Phila., 1858), and was several times set to music, but yielded to Geo.
Duffield's hymn drawn from the same incident, and with a similar
opening.
^""J. Alfred Faulkner in A new History of Methodism, vol. ii, p. 146.
"Treface.
"^For the circumstances, see A. H. Bassett, A concise History of
the Methodist Protestant Church, Pittsburgh, 1877, pp. 185, 189-191.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 309
as "The Methodist Church." For it there appeared The
Voice of Praise: a Collection of Hymns for the use of the
Methodist Church (Pittsburgh, 1872). It was largely the
compilation of Alexander Clark/^^ and is notable for the
fresh sources from which he drew, including current peri-
odicals and manuscripts.^^*
The Methodist Church reunited with the Methodist Prot-
estant in 1877; the official hymn books of each body being
approved for further use.^^^ But in view of a strong senti-
ment for a single book with tunes^*^*' it was ultimately
decided to purchase the copyright and plates of a hymnal
compiled by William McDonald and L. F. Snow under the
supervision of Eben Tourjee. It had been published in
1874 as The Tribute of Praise, and had already finished its
course as an independent venture. With some insertions,
it appeared in 1882 as The Tribute of Praise and Methodist
Protestant Hymn Book. Edited by Dr. Eben Tourjee. To
give it a denominational flavor original hymns contributed
to the earlier books were gathered up and printed in a
supplement to this.^^^ When The Tribute of Praise had
been made to serve for nineteen years, it was replaced by
The Methodist Protestant Church Hymnal (Meth. Prot.
Publ. Board, 1901), which attained a circulation of 50,000
copies within a year. This comely and serviceable book
was patterned closely upon .the new type of hymnals that
had appeared in the preceding decade; from which (rather
than the sources) the bulk of its contents was transferred.
From them it differed in a somewhat larger representation
of Charles Wesley (69 out of 531 hymns) on the one hand
""Bassett, p. 222.
'"*It included Geo. H. Boker's battle-lyric, "God, to Thee we humbly
bow."
'"'Bassett, p. 257. ""'Preface of 1882.
'"'Thomas H. Stockton (5), Alexander Clark (4), William Rine-
hart (i), L. J. Cox (i), S. W. Widney (2), J. Varden (i), A. H.
Bassett (1). A. E. Dennis (2), J. H. Robinson (i), and D. Trueman
(i). These are the hymn writers of Methodist Protestantism. Only
five of these hymns were retained in 1901.
3IO THE ENGLISH HYMN
and of spiritual songs on the other. It was a great contrast
to anything that had preceded it in American Methodism,
anticipating The Methodist Hymnal by four years.
(5) The Wesleyan Methodist Connection was
founded in 1843 during the slavery agitation. The seceders,
from Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Protestant
Churches, brought with them their hymn books, and these
became the first hymn books of the Connection. ^°^ In 1883
an edition of the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal of 1878
was put forth as Tlie Wesleyan Hymnal with tunes. Even
the Sacred Hymns and Tunes designed to he used by tJie
Wesleyan Methodist Connection {or Church) in America
(Syracuse, 1895) ^"^^^ little more than an abridgment of
the Methodist Episcopal book, with the addition of some
spiritual songs.
The Free Methodists cooperated with the Wesley-
ans in preparing a joint-book, appearing in 19 10 as The
Wesleyan Methodist (and also The Free Methodist)
Hymnal. More than 200 of its 730 hymns are Charles
Wesley's, and Watts has 54, but there are many hymns and
songs of a lower grade; and indeed the words, run in
between the staves of the music, seem of minor consequence.
Lowell Mason, Thoro Llarris, I. B. Woodbury and W. B.
Bradbury are the largest contributors of tunes. Many
others are designated as "with chorus," and secular melo-
dies are utilized, such as "Maryland, my Maryland,"
"Bonnie Doon" and "Home, Sweet Home." The standard
of Church Praise thus indicated, whatever may be thought
of it, was no doubt deliberately chosen.
(6) A Review of American Methodist Hymnody.
We have now reviewed the whole course of American
Methodist Hymnody. Its source was naturally Wesleyan,
but it is by no means a mere extension of the Wesle3^an
Hymnody over new territory. At the first American Meth-
odism refused to take its hymn book from Wesley's hand,
and was never solicitous for the integrity or purity of that
"'Preface of 1910.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 311
Hymnody. The Church authorities sought at most to
select from its abundance and to maintain its level ; while
the revival zeal of the people persistently overflowed its
banks and fairly flooded the lowlands of Methodism with a
revivalistic Hymnody.
The Wesleyan Hymn was thus the inheritance : the Camp
Meeting Hymn the most distinctive feature of z\merican
Methodist Hymnody, both as to its own practice and as to
its influence on other Churches. In one sense a develop-
ment of the Evangelistic Hymn of the Wesleys, the Camp
Meeting Hymn was at best a deterioration and at worst
a parody. Camp Meeting Hymnody separates itself from
Wesleyan Hymnody just as in England "Camp Meeting
Methodists" established a "Primitive Methodist Church"
outside of the Wesleyan.
The illiteracy and emotionalism of the Camp Meeting
Hymn gradually yielded to changing conditions, the spread
of education, and the uplift of the Methodist organization
itself, which has never lost sight of the Wesleyan traditions.
But whether the great body of the Church will accept the
new Hymnody, and accepting it make it a vehicle not only
of common praise but of the old revival spirit, remains to
be determined. For the new Hymnody is not so much an
expression of Methodist individuality as it is an effort to
come abreast of the other Churches in catholicity.
The contribution of American Methodists to the store of
English hymns has been prolific on the revival side, but
rather scant in the sphere of church Hymnody. Two or
three of the camp meeting song writers have been named :
the great majority remains unknown. Of the contributors
to mid-century hymn books, beside the Methodist Protestant
writers referred to, Thomas A. Summers is remembered
for two children's hymns, and one by Robert A. West in
the Hymns of 1849 is still used. To the Social Hymn Book
era belong William Hunter ("Joyfully, joyfully onward I
move"), and William McDonald ("I am coming to the
cross"). Mary A. Lathbury's two favorite hymns were
312 THE ENGLISH HYMN
written for Chautauqua services. Mrs. Van Alstyne
("Fanny Crosby") is tlie most voluminous and probably
most popular of the recent "Gospel Hymns" school. Besides
these, in the new Methodist Hymnal Benjamin Copeland,
Emily H. Miller and Frank M. North^*'^ have two hymns
each, and nine other American Methodist writers are repre-
sented by one.^^°
Appendix. (7) In the group of Methodist Churches is
sometimes included The United Brethren in Christ,
owing to its Arminian creed and its Methodist affiliations
dating from the associations of Otterbein and Ashbury.
It is however an independent body, less generally known
than some others, probably because its work was confined
for so long among German-speaking people.^^^ There were
no English hymn books till James T. Stewart of Ohio pub-
lished, with the approval of the General Conference, The
Sacrifice of the Heart; or, a choice Selection of Hymns
from the most approved authors, for the use of the United
Brethren in Christ (Cincinnati: Emporium office, 1826);
followed by a collection of 332 hymns made by Jacob
Antrim, an Ohio revivalist (Dayton, O., 1829).^^^ A third
English hymn book, prepared at the instance of the Virginia
Conference by William R. Rhinehart and Jacob Erb, ap-
peared in 1833 as A Collection of Hymns, for the use of the
United Brethren in Christ, taken from the most approved
authors, and adapted to public and private worship, and in
1837 was taken over by the General Conference and reissued
from its office at Circleville. This was the church hymn
book till 1849. It follows the arrangement rather than the
^""The timely "Where cross the crowded ways of life" is his.
""Lewis R. Amis, David H. Ela, Caroline L. Rice, Lovie R. Stratton,
Caleb T. Winchester, William F. Warren, Samuel K. Cox, Elijah E.
Hoss, and John H. Stockton.
'"C/. H. G. Spayth, History of the Church of the United Brethren
in Christ, Circleville, O., 1851, p. 157, and the preface of Hanby's
continuation (in the same vol., p. 204).
"'See W. A. Shuey, Manual of U. B. Publ. House, Dayton, 1892,
p. 7.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 313
contents of John Wesley's Collection of 1780, including
much of lower literary grade. ,
The next hymn book was prepared by Henry G. Spayth,
appearing as A Collection of Hymns for the use of the
United Brethren in Christ. Prepared by order of the Gen-
eral Conference of 1845 (1849). Spayth is remembered
as the earliest historian of his Church, and not for any
service in improving its English Hymnody, he having been
educated as a German. His book proved "deficient in
variety, fulness and richness," ^^'^ and was superseded by a
new one with the same title as that of 1833 and 1837 (Day-
ton, O., 1858), containing 1070 hymns. The compilers
aimed to avoid "on the one hand the spirit of dry formalism,
and on the other, that of uncultivated enthusiasm," includ-
ing within these limits many of the standard hymns and
many from the revival song books.
The United Brethren fell in line with the general move-
ment toward a "hymnal with tunes," and published Hymns
of the Sanctuary, and social worship. With tunes. Day-
ton, O.: U. B. Piihl. House, 1874. As compared with the
Methodist Hymnal of 1878, it is somewhat larger and con-
siderably less Wesleyan, with a more "popular" tone in
hymns and music, and from the stand-point of its con-
stituency a more usable book.
The denomination has been rather prolific in the publica-
tion of smaller social and revival hymn books and in those
for Sunday school use. Joseph Bever's The Christian Song-
ster (Dayton, 1858) ranges with camp meeting song books,
and was popular at revivals. The Otterbein Hymnal
( 1890) met the demand of the poorer churches for a small
and inexpensive book, and under the name of The People's
Hymnal sought the undenominational market. ^^"^
In its transition from a German to an English-speaking
Church the United Brethren brought nothing from German
Song, and it has made no appreciable contribution to Eng-
^'"Preface of 1858.
"*C/. Shuey, Manual, pp. loi, 102.
314 THE ENGLISH HYMN
lish Hymnody. It has taken from the hymn books of its
neighbors such hymns and songs as it thought adapted to
its worship and evangeHstic work. Its use of the Spiritual
Song has been no greater than in some Methodist bodies,
and its Hymnody has httle to distinguish it from theirs.
(8) The Evangelical Association arose in 1800 out
of the evangehstic labors of Jacob Albright among Pennsyl-
vania Germans, owing to the unwillingness of the Methodist
Episcopal Church to use German; and is Methodist in doc-
trine and discipline. The earliest hymn books were German,
but with the spread of the English language an English
hymn book was prepared in 1834 by J. M. Saylor and J. P.
Leib, under appointment of the Eastern Conference.^^^ The
larger and later The Evangelical Hymn-Book (Cleveland:
The Evangelical Association, c. 1868) was made up from
current hymn books, including a number of Sunday school
hymn and tune books of the Bradbury type, and owed much
to that of the Methodist Protestants. It contained 1254
hymns. The Hymn Book of the Evangelical Association
(Cleveland, 1882), prepared by order of the General Con-
ference, was smaller (875 hymns), made less use of Charles
Wesley, and more of modern writers, and was on the whole
an improved but in no way distinctive collection. In 1891
disciplinary measures resulted in splitting of the denomina-
tion. The Hymnal of the United Evangelical Church was
ordered by the first conference of the new body, appearing
in 1897. Its literary and musical standard is perhaps the
lowest of any church hymnal of its decade. The hymns for
ordinary church use are set to the old familiar American
tunes, accompanied by a large selection of "Gospel Songs";
and these are followed by a hundred "choruses" for ejacu-
latory use in revival meetings. The book is to be judged
no doubt from the standpoint "of a Church so preeminently
evangelistic as the United Evangelical." ^'^^
"^Landmarks of The Evangelical Association, Reading, 1888, pp.
71, 74-
""Preface.
CHAPTER VII
THE HYMNODY OF THE EVANGELICAL
REVIVAL
IN WHITEFIELD'S CIRCLE (1741-1770)
The separation on doctrinal grounds of the Wesleys and
George Whitefield in 1741 proved to be a permanent
division of the XVIIIth century Revival forces into Meth-
odists and Evangelicals. Whitefield, by reason of his flaming
zeal and influence over men, must be regarded as the leader
on the Calvinistic side, but he had nothing of Wesley's
impulse and ability to organize his followers, and indeed
no ambition beyond that of preaching the gospel far and
wide. Contemporary observers and critics saw^ no distinc-
tion between Methodists and Evangelicals, even regarding
Whitefield as the originator and leader of Methodism.^
But by the participants themselves the line of theological
demarcation was keenly felt from the beginning ; and as the
Revival progressed each party tended to develop its peculiar
methods and even to make a separate sphere of operations.
As the Revival extended into the Church of England, the
Evangelical clergy came to resent the imputation of Meth-
odism and to lament its nonconformity to parochial order. ^
There was no one on the Evangelical side who shared to
the full John Wesley's deep sense of the importance of the
Hymn, his delight in hymn singing, or his skill in adminis-
^So Tinclal described Whitefield in his Continuation of Rapin's
History of England.
'Cf. J. H. Overton, The Evangelical Revival in the Eighteenth Cen-
tury, ed. London, 1900, pp. 45 ff.
315
3i6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
tering it as a Christian ordinance; and certainly no one
who equalled Charles Wesley in the facility and felicity of
his hymn writing. Nevertheless the Evangelical Revival
caught and retained something of the glow of Methodist
Song, developed its own hymn writers, and established the
permanent lines of an Evangelical Hymnody. Most of all,
it exercised an influence on the general extension of hymn
singing more immediate and effective than that of Meth-
odism itself.
Whitefield had shared in the use of hymn singing by
the Wesleys as an aid to evangelism. In his early ministry
and preaching tours he made use of the metrical psalms
bound up with the Prayer Book, the Psalms and Hymns
of Dr. Watts, or the Wesleyan hymns, as one or the other
type happened to be convenient or acceptable. It is not
clear that he was a writer of hymns, but he made some
use of manuscript hymns adapted to special themes or occa-
sions.^ Like Wesley he encouraged also social hymn sing-
ing as an act of devotion or even as a witness-bearing in
unexpected places.^ The practical influence of Whitefield's
preaching, wherever he went, outside of such parish
churches as suffered him, was overwhelmingly in favor of
the singing of hymns as distinguished from metrical psalms.
This was not only from the force of his personal example
in using hymns freely, but because the evangelical fervor
he aroused demanded an evangelical response from his
auditors. His influence in this respect was widespread; and
we have already noted its part in bringing about "The Era
of Watts" in American Churches.
A number of the preachers associated with Whitefield
became themselves hymn writers. John Cennick, while
still assisting him, published his Sacred Hymns for the
Children of God, in the days of their pilgrimage. By J. C.
^See the hymn "for her Ladyship" in The Life and Times of Selina
Countess of Huntingdon, ed. London, 1844, vol. i, p. 117: and that in
L. Tyerman, Life of George Whitefield, New York, 1877, vol. ii, p. 241.
*Tyerman, op. cit., vol. i, p. 241.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 317
(London, 1741-42) ; and Sacred Hymns for the use of Reli-
gious Societies. Generally composed in dialogues (Bristol,
1743). Many of these hymns commended themselves to
Whitefield, and some are still widely known and sung.^ To
the later collection, Joseph Humphreys, a co-worker, con-
tributed six hymns.*' Cennick also introduced into some of
the societies classes for hymn singing patterned after the
"choirs" of the Moravians, to whom his heart already
turned.' In 1742 Robert Seagrave published his Hymns
for Christian worship: partly composed, and partly collected
from various authors (London: 4th ed., 1748) ; of which
45 were original. The first ("Now may the Spirit's holy
Fire") Whitefield afterwards made the opening hymn of
his own collection; but only "The Pilgrim's Song" ("Rise
my Soul, and stretch thy Wings") can be said to have sur-
vived,^ Seagrave was in Anglican orders, and in his preface
denies the divine prescription of psalm singing. Just at
the point of leaving Whitefield for the Moravians William
Hammond published his Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual
Songs (London, 1745). His hymns are of merit, ^ and
numerous versions of Latin hymns anticipated by nearly a
century the revival of Protestant interest in Latin
Hymnody.
Seagrave's book was prepared for his congregation at
Loriner's Hall, where he was Sunday evening lecturer for
many years, but it was used more widely. It is likely that
all these collections had more or less use in the societies,
or at the temporary Tabernacle at Moorfields; but when
"Among them, "Children of the heav'nly King," "Jesus, my All, to
Heav'n is gone," "E'er I sleep, for ev'ry Favour," "We sing to Thee,
Thou Son of God" and "Brethren let us join to bless."
"Among them, "Blessed are the sons of God."
"See Tyerman's IVhiteficld, vol. ii, p. 148.
^Seagrave's hymns are highly regarded by Josiah Miller, Singers
and Songs of the Church, 2nd ed., London, 1869, pp. 152, 153; and
have been reprinted by Daniel Sedgwick.
• "Awake, and sing the song," and "Lord, we come before Thee
now," are arranged from longer hymns in this book.
3i8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the new Tabernacle was opened in 1753, Whitefield felt that
he should have a hymn book of his own. It appeared as
Hymns for social worsliip, collected from various authors,
and more particularly dcsign'd for the use of the Taber-
nacle Congregation, in London. By George Whitefield,
A.B., late of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Chaplain to
the Rt. Hon. the Countess of Huntingdon, London: printed
by William Strahan, and to be sold at the Tabernacle, near
Moorfields. M DCC LHT^""
The Countess of Huntingdon had "turned Methodist"
under the influence of her sister-in-law, Lady Margaret
Hastings, who married Benjamin Ingham, one of Wesley's
preachers; and became a member of the society meeting in
Fetter Lane. She was especially moved by Whitefield's
preaching. On his return from America in 1748, she exer-
cised her right as a peeress to appoint him her chaplain,
and opened her house in Park Lane that he might preach
to semi-weekly gatherings of the aristocracy. She en-
deavored in vain the next year to reunite the Wesleys and
Whitefield, and threw her influence on the side of White-
field. It was his hope that Lady Huntingdon would assume
charge of the societies he had founded, the management of
which interfered with his freedom as an evangelist ;^^ and
it was largely through her encouragement that he under-
took to erect the new and larger Tabernacle at Moorfields^-
for whose use his hymn book was prepared.
Whitefield's Hymns contained 132 "for public worship";
38 "for Society and Persons meeting in Christian-Fellow-
ship." It included hymns by all four of his hymn writing
""The book is described in The Athenaeum for Nov. 14, 1903, as
"the excessively rare first edition of Whitefield's 'Hymns,' " and men-
tion made of a copy that "has just changed hands at the price of 200
guineas." But the ist ed. is far from being "excessively rare." The
copy at the 6th McKee sale in May, 1902, brought $4.50: the writer's
copy was purchased from an experienced London dealer in 1896 at
half a guinea.
"Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, vol. i, pp. 116, 117.
^'Ibid., pp. 202, 203.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 319
co-workers; notal)ly of Cennick, the use of whose "Hymns
in dialogue" was justified by a reference in the preface to
the antiphonal singing of cathedral churches and of the
"Celestial Choir."^"* A score of the hymns of the Wesleys
were included, but the hymns of Watts predominated.
Whitefield aimed at a standard of Praise combining the
doctrine and dignity of Watts with the evangelical fervor
of Charles Wesley and his own colleagues. He thought
congregational hymns "ought to abound much in Thanks-
giving," and "be of such a Nature, that all who attend may
join in them without being obliged to sing lies, or not sing
at all." This was to confine his choice within what we
have called Watts' "Common Ground," and to avoid the
individualistic Wesleyan hymns. It involved also some
textual changes in the Wesleyan hymns used; a freedom
which Wesley bitterly resented.'^
The actual use of Whitefield's hymn book by his own
societies, and beyond them, was very large. Daniel Sedg-
Vv'ick has found tliirty-six editions between 1753 and 1796.^^
Through it a number of hymns now familiar, were given
circulation. Its greatest permanent importance lay in its
influence with the early Evangelical clergy of the Church of
England, which made it the forerunner and even the model
of the earlier group of hymnals in the Church of England.
II
IN LADY HUNTINGDON'S CONNEXION
(1 764- 1 865)
Whitefield did not found a new denomination, nor did
Lady Huntingdon assume the leadership of his societies,
^^ "Represented in the Book of Revelations, as answering one another
in their heavenly Anthems."
"See his preface to the Methodist Collection, of 1780.
"Tyerman's Whitefield, vol. ii, p. 294.
320 THE ENGLISH HYMN
which were destined to disintegration. Her aim was rather
to improve the Church of England. She claimed the right
to build private chapels, and to furnish them with preachers
by appointing clergymen as her domestic chaplains ; and by
so doing built up gradually a "connexion" within the bounds
of the Church. But the opening of her chapel in Spa Fields
in 1779 was opposed. She was obliged to take shelter under
the Toleration Act, to register her ministers as dissenting
ministers, and her chapels as dissenting places of worship. ^*^
The parochial clergy among her chaplains (Romaine, Venn,
Beveridge, and others) withdrew, and her work took shape
as a new denomination, "Lady Huntingdon's Connexion."^^
Lady Huntingdon shared the Methodist feeling for
hymns ; and in the meetings at her different houses she made
hymn singing familiar in those aristocratic circles into which
Methodism itself made no effort to penetrate. From her
social influence, her headship of her many chapels, and her
intimate relations with church and dissent, she was espe-
cially well situated to aid the extension of hymn singing;
and she was an influence behind the movement to introduce
hymns into the Church of England. She concerned her-
self with the development of an evangelical Hymnody,
combining evangelical fervor with Calvinistic doctrine, pri-
marily for her own chapels but having wider bearings.
Whether or not Lady Huntingdon contributed hymns of
her own composition is uncertain. As early as 1748 Dod-
dridge, writing after preaching at her house, confesses to
his wife:^^ *T have stolen a hymn, which I steadfastly
believe to be written by good Lady Huntingdon." The
opinion that she was a hymn writer was shared by others,
until it acquired the force of a tradition. Josiah Miller
regarded it "as proved beyond doubt that she was the
author of a few hymns of great excellence," and asserted
"See her Life and Times, vol. ii, pp. 309 flf.
^Ubid., p. 490.
^^Correspondence and Diary of Philip Doddridge, vol. v, London,
1831, p. 74-
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 321
that a known list of them was lost.^° But such a claim is
not supported by actual evidence.
Lady Huntingdon's part in the preparation of hymn
books for her chapels is much more certain, though not
wholly defined. It is doubtful if full materials for a history
of the Hymnody of her Connexion now exist. The earliest
hymn book now known is A Collection of Hymns. London.
Printed for William Lee at Lewes, in Sussex, MDCCLXIV.
It is compiled from James Allen's Kendal Hymn Book of
1754 and other sources, and has a Moravian rather than a
Calvinistic flavor. "Society Hymns" and "Congregational
Hymns" are distinguished; and the preface is an earnest
evangelistic appeal, which, according to Miller,^" was
w'ritten by the Countess herself. It was followed by a series
of local hymn books which plainly had her approval and
probably her supervision. The first was,TJie Collection of
Hymns sung in the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel,
Bristol (Bath, 1765, 3rd. ed., 1770). The distinction be-
tween "Society" and "Congregational" hymns was con-
tinued, but large use was here made of Watts, Charles
Wesley, and current Calvinistic hymn writers. Then came
A Collection of Hymns sung in the Countess of Hunting-
don's Chapels in Sussex (Edinburgh, n. d. ; c. 1771 ) . Then,
next, A Collection of Hymns sung in the Countess of Hunt-
ingdon's Chapels, Bath (Bristol, c. 1774), in which the
greater festivals are provided for, and there are fifty-
one hymns "for the Sacrament." There followed The
Collection of Psalms and Hymns, sung in the Countess
of Huntingdon's Chapels, in Lincolnshire (Gainsborough,
1778).^
During these formative years Lady Huntingdon appears
to have encouraged, or perhaps permitted, her ministers to
'"Singers and Songs of the Church, London, 1869, p. 183. The only
hymn he mentions as hers is the well-known "O when my righteous
Judge shall come." For all really known of its history, see Julian,
Dictionary of Hymnology, p. 854.
'"Singers and Songs,*p. 182.
12^2 THE ENGLISH HYMN
make hymn books for their own use. Thomas Maxfield,^^
one of the first of Wesley's lay preachers, later in Anglican
orders, had revolted from Methodism, and brought a con-
siderable following over to the Calvinistic side. He printed
A Collection of Psalms and Hymns: extracted from, var'wus
authors: with some never published before. London:
printed and sold at his chapel in Rope-maker's Alley, Little
Moorfields, &c., MDCCLXVI (2nd. ed., 1768; 3rd ed.,
1778). He aimed in this to emphasize his newly adopted
Calvinism. Its "Collection of Hymns" (250) and "Collec-
tions of Psalms" (150) are followed by a series of inde-
pendently numbered groups "for the Nativity," for "New
Year's Day," &c., evidently in imitation of Wesley's hymn
tracts. The Revs. Herbert Jones and William Taylor were
the preachers of the new Spa Fields Chapel whose erection
occasioned Lady Huntingdon's withdrawal from the Church
of England. They published for it in 1777 a Collection
mostly compiled from the earlier books and from White-
field's.22
But the time had come, in Lady Huntingdon's judgment,
for a common hymn book for her now very numerous
chapels. ^^ It would promote uniformity, and the profits on
its sale would help to support the work.-^ She personally
undertook the selection of the hymns, relying upon the
assistance of her cousin, the Hon. and Rev. Walter
Shirley. ^^ The new book appeared as A select Collection
of Hymns to be universally sung in all the Countess of
Huntingdon's Chapels. Collected by her Ladyship. London
MDCCLXXX. Its 298 hymns represent in the main her
choice of the hymns already used in her chapels; and com-
prise a compact devotional presentation of the Calvinistic
"For Lady Huntingdon's relations with Maxfield, see her Life and
Times, vol. i, pp. 23, 34-
^^Ibid., vol. ii, p. 306.
''^There were over 80 at the date of her death.
"Preface of 1808.
"^Her Life and Times, vol. ii, p. 201, note.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 323
interpretation of the gospel of grace. ^''' This collection
stood the test of use, and the maintenance of it in its
integrity became a matter of loyalty to the Countess. Sup-
plements were added in 1796 and 1808, after her death;
and in view of numerous "surreptitious editions," more or
less incorrect, the book was copyrighted by her Trustees.^"
Some independent supplements followed : Isaac Nicholson's
full Collection of Hymns . . . for Mulberry Gardens' Chapel
(1807); John Sartain's Psalms and Hymns for Brighton
(1819) ; Thomas Young's TJie Beauties of Dr. Watts, with
popular Hymns (1819) ; and the Appendix of "G. H." of
Worcester in 1848. In 1854 a new hymn book appeared by
order of the Conference as The Countess of Huntingdon's
Connexion Hymn Book, and this also has been supplemented
by the now dwindling denomination ( The Connexion Hymn
Book zvith Supplement, 1865),
Lady Huntingdon was intimate with the Wesleys, the
hostess of Zinzendorf, the friend of Watts and Doddridge,
and the center of the group of hymn writers developed on
the Calvinistic side of the Revival, whether of Whitefield's
following or her own, or remaining, like Toplady, in the
established Church. Of her immediate circle, her cousin
Walter Shirley contributed several hymns to her Collection,
and is still remembered for his "Sweet the moments rich in
blessing," a recast of a hymn by James Allen, and appearing
in the 1770 edition of the Bristol collection. A more copious
writer was Thomas Haweis, whose hymns appeared as
Carmina Christo; or Hymns to the Saviour (Bath, 1792).
This book of Haweis was regarded by many as a companion
to her Ladyship's Collection, and was often bound up with
-°Nos. 62-64, "The Joy of Faith," from Toplady's Psalms and
Hymns of 1776:
"How happy are we,
Our election who see.
And can venture our souls on Thy gracious decree."
is an anti-Wesleyan presentation of the grounds of evangelical joy,
set forth in the Wesleyan rhythm.
"Preface of 1808.
324 THE ENGLISH HYMN
it. From it come his familiar hymns: "From the cross
uplifted high," "Enthron'd on high, almighty Lord!" and
"O Thou, from whom all goodness flows." Lady Hunting-
don's concern for the Calvinistic Methodist movement in
Wales brought her the friendship of William Williams, its
chief hymn writer. Williams had also printed in early life
an attempt at hymn writing in English, Hosannah to the
Son of David; or Hymns of Praise to God (Bristol, 1759).
It is claimed^'* that after seeing this book Lady Huntingdon
induced him to prepare his Gloria in Exxelsis: or Hymns of
Praise to God and the Lamb (Carmarthen, 1772). It is
certain that she included a number of hymns from this book
in her Collection, including "O'er those gloomy Hills of
Darkness," a forerunner of the later Missionary Hymnody.
His "Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah" (first written in
Welsh), was printed as a leaflet for use by the students of
Lady Huntingdon's college and included in the Collection
for Sussex (c. 1771 ) ; being thus started on its great career.
To develop and maintain an interest in hymn singing
demanded attention to its musical interests, if only to con-
quer the lethargy resulting from the degraded ideals and
methods of Church of England psalmody. Whitefield had
no special gift for musical leadership, but Lady Hunting-
don was interested in music and not satisfied merely to adopt
the Wesleyan tune books. She knew most of the prominent
musicians, including Handel, and included the words of the
choruses of his Messiah in her Collection. This suggests
her ambitions for her chapel services, but the withdrawal of
these anthems after her death indicates a conclusion that
they were beyond the available musical resources. She
engaged Giardini, the great violinist of her day, to compose
some tunes for her chapels,^'' and secured others from
•*"£. Morgan in Daniel Sedgwick's reprint of Williams' two publica-
tions as above, London, 1859, p. x.
"' "Is it true that Lady Rockingham is turned Methodist? It will be a
great acquisition to the sect to have their hymns set by Giardini."
Horace Walpole, June 25, 1768, in Toynbee ed. of his Letters, vol. vii,
Oxford, 1904, p. 205.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 325
Giordani, another Italian musician in London, with a very
similar name. At her request, the younger Charles Wesley,
whose musical career she had assisted, composed a tune for
her favorite "In Christ my treasure's all contained."^'*
Among her chaplains Thomas Haweis was the most musi-
cal, and composed tunes published after her death as
Original Music suited to the various metres. The curious
oblong shape assumed by the Connexion hymn books has not
been explained, but may have been adopted as convenient
for printing tunes to be bound up with them.
Ill
SOME BY-STREAMS OF THE HYMNODY
(1748-1808)
Several by-streams of Hymnody can be conveniently
traced from this point.
Benjamin Ingham, Lady Huntingdon's brother-in-law,
had been the Wesleys' fellow-voyager to Georgia, and on
his return became an evangelist. He turned over to the
Moravians many societies he founded in Yorkshire and
adjacent counties, but ultimately organized his followers as
a new sect (Inghamites), making a sort of bishop of him-
self and ordaining his preachers. He published for them A
Collection of Hymns for Societies. Leeds: printed by James
Lister, 1/48. Of its 88 hymns 15 are from Watts, 8 from
the Wesleys, 5 from Cennick : his own share is undeter-
mined. Later a group of his helpers put forth A Collection
of Hymns for the use of those that seek, and those that
Jiave redemption in the Blood of Christ. Kendal: printed
by Tho. Ashhurner. MDCCLVH (2nd ed. with appx.,
1 761 ) . James Allen and Christopher Batty were the largest
contributors, and the flavor of the whole is Moravian.
^Her Life and Times, vol. i, p. 230.
326 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Much of its contents is doggerel.^^ A year later Ingham
sent Batty and Allen northward to inquire into a movement
inaugurated by John Glas. They returned as converts to
the Glassite discipline and theology, and in the disputes and
disruption that followed the Inghamite connexion was
almost completely wrecked.
The Rev. John Glas had been deposed from the ministry
of the Church of Scotland in 1728. He formed at Perth
and elsewhere churches aiming to revive primitive discipline,
with such ordinances as feet washing, the love feast and
community of goods. In public worship they were psalm
singers, but for their fellowship meetings were composed
Christian Songs, first appearing at Edinburgh, 1749. Its
38 songs increased in number with each new edition, the
fifth (1775) having 95 songs and 11 "elegies." The eighth
(1794) added a second part of 25 songs, enlarged to 114
in the fourteenth edition of 1872. An edition printed for
the Edinburgh congregation in 1875 was little more than a
reprint of the first part of the 1794 edition. Most of the
songs were on themes already familiar, but many show
more than the usual lyrical feeling and facility, and are
referred to current Scottish and English song-tunes. Beside
its long popularity in Glassite congregations, now become
few and small, the Christian Songs is of some interest as
the source of hymns in various collections.^^
^^The book is known as The Kendal Hymn Boot;. Allen's "Glory to
God on high" came into wide use : his "While my Jesus I'm possessing"
was the basis of "Sweet the moments rich in blessing." Christopher
and William Batty afterwards printed A Publication of Hymns, in two
parts (4th ed., Nottingham, 1803). Christopher's "Captain of thy
enlisted host" had some use.
"'These can be traced through Julian's Diet, of Hymnology, art.
"Scottish Hymnody," pp. 1030 f. Glas' son-in-law Robert Sandeman
came to Boston in 1764, and established churches known as Sande-
manian in several towns. For their history see Williston Walker,
"The Sandemanians in New England" in Annual Rcpt. of Amer. Hist.
^'Issn. for 1901, vol. i, p. 133. A hymn book for their use appeared as
Christian Songs; written by Mr. John Glas, and others. The seventh
edition Perth, printed: Providence, reprinted. MDCCLXXXVH.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 327
James Relly, a convert and afterward a preacher of
Whitefield's, broke with him on doctrinal grounds, adopt-
ing very comfortable views of the union of the whole race
with the Redeemer. His London society was probably the
first attempt at organized Universalism, and kept its meet-
ing house open till 1830.^^ He published at London in
1 754 Christian Hymns, Poems, and Spiritual Songs, sacred
to the praise of God our Saviour: the fifty-page poem and
first book of hymns by himself, the second by his brother
John. It is easier to understand that these rude hymns
should support the charge of antinomianism brought against
Relly, than that they should prove attractive in reading or
worship. But they were reprinted in 1758, 1777, and 1791,
and were associated with the Universalist movement in
America. It was no doubt natural that each of these
XVIIIth century sectarian movements should aim at having
its own Hymnody.
As independent in spirit as these founders of sects, but
in doctrine straitly Calvinistic, was Rowland Hill. At
one in his views with Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon, an
imitator of the former's methods and associated with the
latter's work, he was as unwilling to become the colleague
of either as unable to keep to the lines of the Church of
England, of which he was an ordained clergyman. After
an itinerant ministry of twelve years, he founded in London
the famous Surrey Chapel. During a fifty years' ministry
there, with some use of church formularies but without
episcopal sanction, he exerted an influence in popularizing
hymn singing that was not unfelt in the Church itself.
Hill had published at London in 1774 A Collection of
Psalms and Hymns, chiefly intended for the use of the
poor; and on opening Surrey Chapel in 1783 printed for
it A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, chiefly intended for
public worship (M. Pasham, 1783). He believed in the
sacred use of popular melodies, and his organist, B. Jacob,
'^Richard Eddy, "The Universalists" in American Church History
Scries, vol. X, p. 349.
328 THE ENGLISH HYMN
cooperated with him, as appears from a Collection of Hymn
Tunes (c. 1800). His hymn "When Jesus first, at Heav'n's
command," set to "Rule Britannia," with which he stirred
the hearts of the Volunteers during the Napoleonic wars,
was long remembered.^^ An early Sunday school worker,
Hill also popularized the ideal of a Children's Hymnody.
Jacob prepared for him a tune book for Watts' Divine and
moral Songs, and Hill himself published Divine Hymns
attempted in easy language for the use of children (and
revised by Cowper: ist ed., 1790) ; A Collection of Hymns
for children (1808) ; and Hymns for schools (1832). As
a hymn writer. Hill was of Watts' school; and the prefaces
of his various collections show that he contributed to them
much more material than can now be identified. Of the
h3^mns that were new in one or other edition of the Collec-
tion of 1783, "Cast thy burden on the Lord," "We sing
His love who once was slain," and "With heavenly power,
O Lord, defend," are in common use to the present time.
IV
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND (1760-1819)
I. Introduction of Hymn Singing by the Evan-
gelicals ( 1 760-1 776)
Both the Wesleys and Whitefield had proposed an evan-
gelistic movement within the Church of England. It is
difficult to conceive the reshaping of the Church that would
have resulted, had they been allowed to fulfil their purpose.
In fact their gospel, their methods, and most of all their
"enthusiasm," aroused general hostility, and closed the
parish churches against the "New Light" and the new song
it inevitably awakened. There were nevertheless in the
ranks of the clergy some minds open to evangelical impres-
''It is in William James, Memoir of the Rev. Rowland Hill, 3rd ed.,
London, 1845, p. 349-
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 329
sions, and the actual effect of the Revival was to develop
in the Church of England an Evangelical Party.
The early Evangelicals were Calvinists, in sympathy with
Whitefield. They moved in Lady Huntingdon's circle, and
were thus in direct contact with the new Hymnody. Some
of them, like Beveridge of Everton, and Grimshaw of
Haworth, had control of their own churches; but, in Lon-
don especially, the Evangelicals were dependent upon Lady
Huntingdon's house, the chapels she erected, the proprietary
chapels others were allowed by the bishops to establish as
the only form of church extension then practicable, and the
endowed "lectureships" in various parish churches where
the nomination of the lecturer was in the hands of the
parishioners.^^ By means of these the opportunity was
found to preach an evangelical gospel within the Church
of England; and also to introduce hymn singing into its
services, without having to encounter the opposition inevita-
ble in parish churches with long-established traditions in
favor of psalm singing.
The first of the Evangelical leaders was the excellent
William Romaine, hustled from place to place in London
before he could obtain a hearing. As it happened, he was
a conscientious opponent of hymn singing in general and
of the Hymnody of the Revival in particular. He held the
extreme Calvinistic position as to the exclusive use of in-
spired words in Praise, and was able to impose his views
upon his own congregation. But he could not stay the
rising tide of hymn singing or make a breach between the
gospel and the hymns of the Revival.
In Martin Madan the new hymn singing found an effec-
tive sponsor. He and his friends had built the chapel in
connection with the Lock Hospital, near Hyde Park Corner,
which introduced Evangelicalism into the West End. For
its use he prepared and published A Collection of Psalms
and Hymns, extracted from various authors, and published
^^See G. R. Balleine, A History of the Evangelical Party in the
Church of England, London, 1908, pp. 60-63.
330 THE ENGLISH HYMN
by the Reverend Mr. Madan. London: printed by Henry
Cock: and sold at the Lock Hospital, near Hyde Park,
MDCCLX. The book was plainly modelled on Whitefield's,
and often uses his textual alterations. Its 170 hymns were
put together without arrangement, beyond a grouping of
"Sacramental Hymns." There was nothing to distinguish
it as being of the Church of England. Its choice of hymns
and bright and cheerful tone gave immediate satisfaction.
For some six years it had the field to itself, reaching a
second edition in 1763, a fourth in 1765, and a twelfth in
1787. Madan's knack in reconstructing the work of other
hands made his book a permanent influence both for good
and evil. A number of familiar hymns still bear the marks
of his editorial revision. Madan was a musician, and, to
accompany his hymn book, printed A Collection of Psalm
and Hymn Tunes, never published before, 176^). Edited by
M. Madan.^^ It was reprinted both in England and
America, and included 33 tunes from his own hand. These
florid strains, then new, gained much vogue : "Helmsley"
and "Huddersfield" still survive. The contempt expressed
for these tunes by the modern Anglican school views them
out of perspective. If they tickled the ear, it was with a
view of arousing faculties that slept through the droned
notes of parish Psalmody and of quickening the pace of the
singing. And in this they were successful.
The humorous and sturdy John Berridge was as early on
the field as Madan, but less effective. He published A Col-
lection of Divine Songs, designed chiefly for the Religious
Societies of Churchmen in the neighbourhood of Everton,
Bedfordshire (1760). As may be inferred, Berridge was
already a "Methodist," a field-preacher, and encourager of
societies outside the parish churches. His collection is
mostly Wesleyan, with some hymns from Watts and some
originals. With a change in doctrinal views Berridge
became
"Not wholly satisfied with the collection [he] had published. The
'"Generally called "The Lock Collection."
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 331
bells, indeed, had been chiefly cast in a celebrated Foundery, and in
ringing were tunable enough, none more so, but a clear gospel tone
was not found in them all. Human wisdom and strength, perfection
and merit, give Sion's bells a Levitical twang, and drown the mellow
tone of the gospel outright.'"'
With such convictions Berridge attempted to suppress his
Divine Songs, buying and destroying every copy he could
secure. During a six months' illness in the early seventies
he composed a large number of hymns. A few of these
appeared in The Gospel Magazine, or elsewhere : most were
laid aside till in 1785 he printed the whole body of them as
Sion's Songs, or Hymns: composed for the use of them
that love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. By
John Berridge, M.A., Vicar of Everton (London), There
were 342 hymns of a homely type, without classification or
even an index of first lines, but numbered as a hymn book.
They were sung no doubt through the circuit of Berridge's
preaching and societies, but made no marked impression on
Evangelical Hymnody. New editions in 1805 and 1820
may have been as much designed for reading as for singing,
as was J. C. Philpots' reprint of 1842.^^
Seven years after Madan's Collection and Berridge's
earlier hymn book, Richard Conyers, Vicar of Helmsley in
Yorkshire, published A Collection of Psalms and Hymns,
from various authors: for the use of serious and devout
Christians of every denomination (London, 1767). This is
the third of the Church of England hymnals, revealing by
its title how broad was the sympathy of the early Evangeli-
cals. The printing of a fifth edition at York in 1788 shows
that it helped to extend and provide for hymn singing at the
North. Conyers followed Madan's lead and appropriated
fully two thirds of the contents of Madan's Collection. He
"'Preface to Sion's Songs, 1785.
"^There is a good account of Berridge and his hymns in Thos.
Wright, Augustus M. Toplady, &c., London, 191 1, pp. 252-60. Gadsby's
Memoirs of Hymn-Writers and Compilers is fuller, but inaccurate.
Berridge's best remembered hymns are : "Jesus, cast a look on me,"
"O happy saints, who dwell in light," and "Since Jesus freely did
appear" (in altered forms).
332 THE ENGLISH HYMN
was however happy in getting his friend Cowper interested
in his book and in securing contributions from that poet.
His second edition of 1772 will always have a place as the
original source of "There is a fountain fill'd with blood,"
and "Oh ! for a closer walk with God."
The fourth of the Evangelical series appeared in 1775.
That was also the year of Romaine's philippic against the
new Hymnody, in which he reveals the situation as he
saw it :
"The hymn-makers . . . have supplied us with a vast variety, collec-
tion upon collection, and in use too, new hymns starting up daily —
appendix added to appendix — sung in many congregations, yea ad-
mired by very high professors to such a degree, that the psalms are
become quite obsolete, and the singing of them is now almost as
despicable among the modern religious, as it was some time ago among
the prophane." ^^
Romaine, no doubt, is speaking not of the Church at
large, but of the small group of churches affected by the
movement which he represented at London, and De Courcy
(whose recent appointment by Lord Dartmouth as Vicar of
St. Alkmund's, Shrewsbury, caused a great stir) repre-
sented at the West. The latter's A Collection of Psalms and
Hymns, extracted from different authors . . . zvith a
preface by the Rei'erend Mr. De Courcy (Shrewsbury,
1775: 2nd ed., 1782), might seem a defiance of Romaine;
for its distinction lay in the increased number of authors
from whom it drew, adding for their accommodation
"appendix to appendix" in its later editions.
But in the project of widening the area of the Evangelical
Hymnody these later editions had been preceded, and prob-
ably influenced, by another hymn book of greater impor-
tance : Psalms and Hymns for public and private worship.
Collected {for the most part), and published, by Augustus
Toplady, A.B., Vicar of Broad Henibury. London: printed
for E. and C. Dilly, 1776. "It ought," Toplady said, "to
be the best that has yet appeared, considering the great
number of volumes (no fewer than between forty and
'Mn Essay on Psalmody, London, 1775, pp. 104, 105.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 333
fifty), which have,, more or less, contributed to this Com-
pilation."^'^ In its 418 hymns many Nonconformists, beside
Watts, were represented, some of them new to ("hurch of
England hymn books. The book was occasioned by Top-
lady's removal to London, and was made for the evening
congregation he had gathered in the Huguenot Chapel in
Orange Street. Toplady regarded hymn singing as an
ordinance of God, "which He designs eminently to bless at
this present day," and dismissed Romaine's protest against
hymns, of the year before, with contempt. ^^
Toplady's book was more pronouncedly Calvinistic than
its predecessors. Such titles as "Original Sin," "Election
Unchangeable," "Electing Grace," "Efficacious Grace,"
"Imputed Righteousness," "Preserving Grace," and "Assur-
ance of Faith," show that the "Five Points" were care-
fully illustrated. In 1770, and the years following, the
Calvinistic Controversy had reached its crisis, and none had
contributed more to its heat and bitterness than Toplady.
The separation of the two parties was final, and his hymn
book expressed his conviction'*^ that the Church of England
belonged on the Calvinistic side. In view of the extreme
virulence of his attacks upon Wesley, Toplady's inclusion
of a number of Wesleyan hymns is noteworthy. Unlike
most of his contemporaries, Toplady must have identified
the authorship of these hymns :^^ and it is to be added that
*Treface.
" "What absurdity is there, for which some well-meaning people
have not contended ?" Ibid.
^'Historic Proof of the doctrinal Calvinism of the Church of England
(1774).
"It is quite certain that the editor of Toplady's Works could not
distinguish even Toplady's hymns from those of the Wesleys. He
prints "Christ whose glory fills the skies" and "Father, I want a thank-
ful heart," as Toplady's (vol. vi [1794], pp. 420, 428). This act of
Row's is the sole basis for the charge that Toplady appropriated as his
own some of Cliarles Wesley's hymns (David Creamer, Methodist
Hymnology, N. Y., 1848, pp. 45-47). Row in his turn is accused of
printing some of Toplady's hymns as his own (Gadsby, Hymn Writers,
4th ed., 1870, p. 157).
334 THE ENGLISH HYMN
he carefully altered the text of such as he used.^^ And
here, for the first time in a hymn book, "Rock of Ages"
and "Jesu, Lover of my Soul," stand side by side.
Even more unexpected, in view of the history of the
Evangelical Party, is the aesthetic motive in Toplady's book.
"God," so the preface opens, "is the God of Truth, of Holi-
ness, and of Elegance. Whoever, therefore, has the honor
to compose, or to compile, anything that may constitute a
part of his worship, should keep those three particulars,
constantly, in view." H only these quaint words could have
been taken to heart by the Evangelical Party, Toplady's
hymn book would not only have put into circulation the
greatest English hymn, but would have prevented that per-
verse ignoring of the aesthetic side of human nature which
proved so serious a barrier to the spread of evangelical reli-
gion, and palliated the excesses of the Oxford Revival in
the century following.
Toplady did not live to reprint his hymn book. A second
edition, somewhat modified, appeared in 1787, edited by his
friend Walter Row. For this there continued a demand
sufficient to keep it in print during the first quarter of the
XlXth century.
Toplady included only six of his own hymns'*^ in his
Psalms and Hymns, though he had been a hymn writer
from his youth.'*'"' The larger number of his hymns ap-
peared at Dublin in 1759 as Poems on sacred subjects, and
portray the stress of thought and feeling that accompanied
his transition to Calvinistic views. Long afterward he
printed 26 hymns in The Gospel Magadne,^"^ and five
"E. g. in "Blow ye the trumpet, blow," the Wesleyan "The all-atoning
Lamb" becomes "The sin-atoning Lamb."
"They were "Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness"; "A debtor to Mercy
alone"; "Thou fountain of bliss"; "Rock of Ages"; "What tho' my
frail eye-lids refuse" ; and "How happy are we."
^'See Wright, Augustus M. Toplady, p. 23.
*'In 1771, 1772, 1774, 1776. "Rock of Ages" appeared in March,
1776. There is a complete list in Wright, p. 100. The Gospel Maga-
zine, the source of so many evangelical hymns, ran from 1766 to 1772,
and was revived in 1774. Toplady became its editor at the end of 1775.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 335
others are traceable. Toplady's hymns have been widcU*
appreciated and largely used. In Dcnham's Selection (Bap-
tist), a considerable body of them is still available, but on
the whole the number in actual use is constantly diminishing.
His polemic hymns have died a natural death : his deep and
sincere hymns of Christian experience invite a sympathetic
reading rather than a congregational employment : and the
conviction can hardly be resisted that his poetic inspiration
and even metrical method were borrowed from Charles
Wesley. His "Rock of Ages" isolates itself from the body
of his work in its impressiveness and usefulness, and main-
tains its place at the head of English hymns.
Mention must also be made of the Select Psalms and
Hymns of David Simpson (Macclesfield, 1776; 2nd ed.,
1780; new ed. 1795). It was made for the great congrega-
tion in the church built for him at Macclesfield after the
rector of the parish church had thrown him bodily out of
his pulpit ; and is chiefly notable for the new hymns it intro-
duced and for the inclusion of anthems.
We thus have before us the first group of Church of
England hymn books. Their dates of publication cover
only seventeen years, and they have much in common. Gen-
erally entitled Psahns and Hymns they show no concern
with the old metrical Psalmody. They are collections of
hymns, gradually expanding from the 170 of Madan to
the 600 and over of Simpson. The hymns are thrown
together without arrangement and without indications of
their authorship, and there are no musical notes or sugges-
tions. From the prefaces we may infer that Madan stood
alone among the editors in giving attention to the musical
side. In the body of hymns also, there was much that was
common to the books. Watts, and to a less degree the
Wesleys and Joseph Hart, furnished a nucleus and a con-
siderable share of their contents. Watts' followers, espe-
cially Doddridge and the new Baptist hymn writers, were
drawn upon ; and also the group more or less affiliated with
Whitefield or using The Gospel Magazine as their medium
336 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of publication. Of the editors themselves, only Toplady and
Berridge contributed hymns of note, but Newton and
Cowper offered their first-fruits.
The group of hymn books shows a very determined pur-
pose to introduce hymn singing and great activity in
providing materials for it. They do not of course represent
the Church but a small party within it. The new movement
was an intrusion of the outside Revival forces. The
Hymnody showed its revival origin and character in the
evangelistic note, in its concern with experimental religion,
and its warmth amid chilling surroundings ; and once within
the dikes, revealed it yet further by its obliviousness of
principles and practices distinguishing church from dissent,
and its subordination of the sacramental side of religion.
Inspired as it was by a Calvinistic movement the Hymnody
was inevitably consistent with Calvinism. This showed
itself negatively in its omissions or alterations of Methodist
hymns. Positively it was in general content to express a
deep sense of sin, an entire dependence on God for deliver-
ance and the discovery of his method in Scripture. With
Toplady came more of the terminology and specific state-
ments of Calvinism. It is from this adhesion to the princi-
ples of the Revival rather than of the Church of England
that these early hymn books derive their larger import ;
for they helped to establish the foundations of an Evan-
gelical Hymnody not only within but beyond the Church
of England.
2. "Olney Hymns" (1779) Fills Out the Type of
The Evangelical Hymn
In line with the earlier Evangelical hymn books, but an
event important enough to stand alone, came the publication
in 1779 by John Newton, then curate of Olney, of 280
of his own hymns and 68 of his friend William Cowper,
under the title of Olney Hymns in three Books. Book I.
On select texts of Scripture. Book II. On occasional sub-
jects. Book III. On the progress and changes of the
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 337
spiritual life (London: W. Oliver, 1779). Both men had
contributed hymns to The Gospel Magazine, and to one or
other of the Evangehcal hymn books. Newton had ap-
pended eighteen pages of "Hymns, &c." to his Twenty-six
Letters on religious subjects of 1774.'*^ As early as 1771
Newton proposed to Cowper that they jointly compose a
volume of hymns, partly from "a desire of promoting the
faith and comfort of sincere Christians," partly "as a monu-
ment to perpetuate the remembrance of an intimate and
endeared friendship.""*^ Before the work had proceeded
far, Cowper was prostrated by brain trouble, and Newton
ultimately completed it alone.
The hymns were conceived in the very spirit of their
time and surroundings. From them we could reconstruct
the actual working of the Revival in an English parish
under Evangelical leadership ; and they may be regarded as
bringing the Hymnody of the Evangelical Revival to a close.
In them the offices of the Prayer Book yield to the sermon,
the church year is superseded by the civil, the sacraments
are subordinated, and the Revival method expresses itself in
the evangelical theology, the strenuous activity in the sphere
of individual emotion, the didactic element employed to
instruct and edify the simple believer, and the expository
dealings with Scripture. Many of the hymns had been
actually a part of the revival services at Olney, being written
for special occasions, or to be sung after some special appeal
from the pulpit, or to be made the theme of an exposition
by Newton in the prayer meetings held at the Great House.^"
In the making of these hymns Cowper, as long as he was
able, wrought with the feeling and craftmanship of a true
poet, and clothed them with the tender charm of his own
spirit. Newton poured into them the pulsing life of an
^^Including Cowper's "God moves in a mysterious way," and his own
"While with ceaseless course" and "I asked the Lord."
"Preface, p. vi.
'"E. g. (Diary, Dec. 6, 1772) "Expounded my new hymn at the
Great House on the subject of a burdened sinner." Josiah Bull, John
Newton, London, n. d., p. 183.
338 THE ENGLISH HYMN
intense and commanding personality, and proved himself
capable at his best of producing great hymns. When his
inspiration failed it was like him to have "done his best" to
fill the spaces left by his friend's silence. And even when
most prosaic and homiletical Newton's work has the quality
of being alive and the gift of appealing to other minds.
Indeed the Olney Hymns are to be taken as a whole,^^ and
measured by the unity of the impression they created. Their
appeal was immediate, and to an unusual degree permanent.
Even in our own day, Faber, the Roman Catholic hymn
writer, speaks of their "acting like a spell upon him for
years, strong enough to be for long a counter-influence to
very grave convictions, and even now to come back from
time to time unbidden into the mind."^^
This influence of Olney Hymns, securing for it so many
reprintings^"^^ and so wide a circulation, was much more
than that of a hymn book. In form the book was available
for congregational use (being arranged precisely as Watts'
Hymns had been), though some of its materials were not
suitable. To what extent it was so employed is not now
discoverable. But it furnished many with their favorite
songs and devotional reading. It played a part among
Evangelicals akin to that of Wesley's Collection of the
following year among Methodists. It became a people's
manual of evangelical doctrine and an instrument of spirit-
ual discipline.
But the place of its hymns in Hymnody itself is a very
considerable one. They were inevitably recognized as a
very notable accession to the store available for Evangelical
"The best study of the Olney Hymns is Montgomery's "Introductory
Essay," written for Collins' Glasgow ed., and often reprinted. In his
contentment with Cowper's poetic grace, Montgomery perhaps over-
looks something of Newton's bluff virility.
''"Frederick Wm. Faber, Hymns, preface to ed. of 1861.
^^3rd ed., 1783; 9th, 1810. It was kept in print during most, if not
all, of the XlXth century. The numerous American reprints seem to
have begun in New York in 1787 (Evans' American Bibliography, vol.
vii, item 20588).
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 339
use. They began at once to furnish materials for the hymn
books. The proportion of them that became famihar and
endeared to various denominations is surprisingly large. In
the Church of England a number won a place from which
even the reconstructions of the Oxford Revival have been
unable to dislodge them.^^ At the lowest estimate six
must be accorded a classical position: three of Cowper's
— "Hark my soul! it is the Lord," "Oh! for a closer walk
with God," "God moves in a mysterious way," and three of
Newton's — "Come, my soul, thy suit prepare," "Glorious
things of thee are spoken," "How sweet the name of Jesus
sounds."
Olney Hymns exercised also a decided influence upon the
evangelical ideal of the Hymn, not so much in the way of
modifying as in the way of confirming and deepening it.
Like Charles Wesley's it was an influence favoring the use
of hymns as an expression of the most private experience,
and like his again, Newton's method was autobiographical.
If indeed he intended all his hymns for public use, he was
careless of Whitefield's dictum that congregational hymns
should confine themselves to sentiments common to the
singers. This inward-looking of "the old blasphemer"
begat intense remorse and measureless self-contempt, and
made the Hymn of Experience an instrument of self-
reproach. In the same way Cowper's dreadful depression,
and Newton's sympathy with him, tinged Olney Hymns at
times with the shadow of the cloud hiding the divine
Presence. It can hardly be denied that the indiscriminate
use of such materials by congregations introduced an
element of unreality and morbidness into Evangelical
Plymnody, from which it was slow to recover. On the
other hand, Newton's perfect faith in the salvation offered,
his glorying in its efficacy, his wonder at its grace, the tender
note of his love for the Saviour, the exultation of his
triumphant faith; — all these things entered into the warp
"In the latest edition of Hymns ancient and modern there are six
by Newton and seven by Cowper.
340 THE ENGLISH HYMN
and woof of the Evangelical Hymnody, and Newton's close
relating of personal experience with the truths and narra-
tives of Scripture became preeminently the accepted method
of that Hymnody. Any who were brought up in some one
of the evangelical churches, in the period after Watts'
domination had passed, are likely to recall a number of
Newton's hymns, a few of Cowper's also, as inevitably asso-
ciated with the gospel there proclaimed and the type of
religion there practised.
3. Movements to Introduce Hymns in the Main
Body of the Church (1724-1816)
Olney Hymns marks a point of transition in Church of
England Hymnody. It was the last of a group of books
bringing the Evangelical Hymnody into the Church without
remoulding or even rearranging it into accommodation
with the Prayer Book system of parochial worship. It was
to be followed by a group of books, still Evangelical, that
aimed to adapt the new Hymnody to the methods and man-
ners of the Church.
The point is thus a convenient one at which to turn from
the small Evangelical Party to the main body of the Church
where Psalm singing prevailed and the Prayer Book system
was unimpaired by revival influences outside, in order to
discover what progress had been made there in introducing
the singing of hymns.
In this main body there was no unity of feeling or pur-
pose in regard to the use of hymns in public worship.
( I ) There were first the stand-fasts, who through the
entire XVIIIth century maintained the position Bishop
Beveridge had taken at its beginning, that the good estate
of the Church was bound up with the continued use of the
Sternhold and Hopkins version of the Psalms, and that the
traditional method of singing them need not be disturbed.
Outside of the Church Watts had successfully attacked
the divine prescription of the Psalms, and the hymns of
himself and his school had largely displaced them in Non-
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 341
conformist use. At the l)orders of the Church the Wesleys
had disregarded Psahuody and instituted a popular Hym-
nody of feeHng and experience. All these changes tended
to strengthen the position of the Metrical Psalm in the
minds of the conservative and stiii churchmen, and led
them to constitute themselves special guardians of that
Metrical Psalm, originally the creation and the badge of
Geneva. Psalmody had come to seem to them a charac-
teristic part of the Prayer Book system and the hymns a
menace. The more widely Watts' hymns spread, and the
more fervid the Methodist Song grew, the more obvious
it became that the Hymn was stamped with the hall-mark
of dissent and, even worse, of "enthusiasm." The prejudice
against hymns in churchly circles grew very strong. Dr.
Samuel Johnson plumed himself for having let it yield to
a charitable impulse.^^
(2) There were the less extreme conservatives, just as
anxious to maintain the old Psalmody, but who lamented
the prevailing apathy fallen on the ordinance, and saw the
force of the demand for hymns suitable for holy days and
occasions. Bishop Gibson had suggested the remedy in his
Directions given to the clergy (1724) on his translation to
London. He urged the great need of a better and heartier
musical performance and laid out a "Course of Singing
Psalms" covering the Sundays, Christmas, Easter, Whit-
sunday, and some church occasions. The expedient was a
good one and somewhat widely adopted; but it was also
quickly appropriated by the advocates of hymns. In 1734
"R. W." printed at Nottingham TJic excellent use of
Psalmody, with a course of Singing Psalms for half a year,
adding an appendix of twenty-eight hymns for the
festivals, the Communion, morning and evening, midnight,
and funerals. Still later the Rivingtons reissued The excel-
lent use, bound up with their tractate of (12) Divine Hymns
and Hymns taken from tlie Supplement to Tate and Brady's
Psalms.
"'See preface.
342 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In this group of conservatives Romaine belonged, as has
appeared, and although foremost in adopting the theology
of the Revival, w^as more strenuous than most in resisting
its Hymnody. His A Collection out of the Book of Psalms,
suited to every Sunday in the year (London, 1775)' shows
by its title that he followed Bishop Gibson's lead, but he
went a step farther by adding notes on the evangelical inter-
pretation of various Psalms. To us who look back it seems
very plain that the addition of evangelical annotations to
the "Singing Psalms" could not stay the intrusion of a
pronouncedly evangelical Hymnody, any more than the
appropriation of Psalms to Christian festivals could illus-
trate their full significance.
(3) There were those, and perhaps Romaine had no
quarrel with them, who were fully persuaded that hymns
had a real function in the Christian life, and favored their
use provided only they were not introduced into the stated
church services. As early as 1727 there appeared A Collec-
tion of Psalms, and Divine Hymns, suited to the great
festivals of the Church, for morning and evening, and other
occasions (London; J. Downing, 1727). It was in all
respects a hymn book, with the hymns numbered for use,
and included "a Table of Psalms on practical subjects,
which may be of use to Parish-Clarks. "''*'' Notwithstanding
this suggestive reference (on the title-page) to parish clerks,
the preface opens with the declaration : "I have no thought
of proposing the Use of any Part of this Collection in the
Publick Service." Of hymn books, however, as of greater
ventures, it is true that man proposes and Providence dis-
poses. And it is not unlikely that some parish clerks who
consulted the Table were tempted to line out the Hymns.
The few psalms in this book were from Denham and Pat-
rick. The hymns constituting the majority of its forty-
""This apparently unnoticed book preceded by ten years John Wes-
ley's Charleston Collection, which Dr. Julian calls "the first hymn-
book compiled for use in the Church of England." Dictionary of
Hymnology, p. 3,32.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 343
nine pieces "were collected from several Books, some of
which are not easy to be met with." The little book was
published cheaply for general distribution and for binding
up with others of like size in a series printed by Downing
"for promoting Christian knowledge and Practice." The
practical effect of this book and others like it was undoubt-
edly to famiharize hymn singing.
In this group we may include also the "Religious So-
cieties," whose origin dates back to the last quarter of the
XVIIth century and which survived to play a part in the
Revival under Wesley and Whitefield. That formed at
Romney, Kent, in 1690, had its own hymn book as early
as 1724: The Christian Sacrifice of Praises, consisting of
select Psalms and Hymns, zvith doxologies and proper tunes.
For the use of the Religious Society of Romney. Collected
by the author of the Christian's Daily Manual. London:
printed by William Pearson, for John Wyat, at the Rose
in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1/^4. This recently recovered
volume has 41 Psalm versions, with 27 hymns selected from
Austin, Playford, Patrick, and the Supplement to the New
Version. It was no doubt prepared for use apart from
the church service, but the custom of attending Preparation
Sermons and Communion in churches^^ suggests another
possible avenue through which hymn singing entered the
parish churches.
(4) There was also in the main body of the Church a
constantly growing party of progress in Psalmod}^, whose
plans for its improvement included some use of hymns,^^
and whose efforts it will be convenient to distinguish as two
parallel movements.
One of these was plainly suggested by the new and hearty
hymn singing of the Revival, and took shape in the culti-
vation of music in several of the charitable institutions of
London. To furnish suitable tunes especially, a series of
"G. V. Portus, Caritas Anglicana (an inquiry into Religious
Societies) London, 1912, p. 17.
■^'But not particularly the hymns of the Evangelical movement.
344 THE ENGLISH HYMN
books was published in which "Psahiis, H^-mns and
Anthems" were printed with equal freedom. Such an use
of hymns is partly explained by the "Charity Hymns" and
those written to grace special occasions in these institutions.
In the case of the Lock Hospital, the musical movement
coincided with the Evangelical. Its chapel was used not
only by its inmates, but by a strongly contrasting West End
Evangelical congregation who rented sittings.^ ^ The hymn
book and tune book prepared for their common use by
Martin Madan have already been noted.
At the "Asylum or Llouse of Refuge for Female Or-
phans" at Westminster Bridge, the improvement of its
music under William Riley took the form of antagonism
to the tunes made popular by the Revival. LI is Parochial
Music corrected (1762) dwelt especially on the light fugu-
ing tunes of the "Methodists," which were creeping into
the Church through the "Lectureships" in parish churches
that gave Evangelicals their opportunity. Nevertheless here
as elsewhere the use of hymns followed musical improve-
ment. Riley's Psalms, and Hymns for the Chapel of the
Asylum or House of Refuge for Female Orphans (n. d. ;
after 1762) included the words of the hymns.^" For the
Foundling Hospital a series of books was published, begin-
ning with Psalms, Hymns and Anthems used in the Chapel
of the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Ex-
posed and Deserted Young Children (1774). It contained
sixteen hymns, including some of Addison's and which by
1796 had increased to twenty-two. One of the Foundling
°*Balleine, The Evangelical Party, p. 61.
'"Rev. Jacob Duche, the refugee rector of Christ Church, Phila-
delphia, became chaplain of the Asylum in 1782 (C. Higham in New
Church Magazine, London, Sept. 1896, p. 461). He is said to have
edited the editions of 1785 and 1789 (W. T. Brooke in Morning Light,
Nov. 16, 1895) ; and is credited with the authorship of three of the
Asylum hymns {New Ch. Maga. ut supra, pp. 464, 465). Duche
preached Swedenborgian views, and one of these hymns appears in
New Church hymnals up to the present day (Hymns for use of the
New Church, London, 1881, No. 575: "Come, love Divine! thy power
impart.")
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 345
hymns, often appearing as a leaflet pasted in at the end of
the 1796 edition, was our familiar "Praise the Lord! ye
heavens adore Him." For the Magdalen Hospital five
separate collections were printed, beginning with The
Hymns Anthems and Tunes with the Ode used at the Mag-
dalen Chapel (n. d.). This contains twenty-seven hymns
by Ken, Addison, Doddridge and others, including a version
of Dies Irae. This was followed by A second Collection of
Psalms and Hymnsf^ A third, and A fourth Collection
of Hymns for the use of the Magdalen Chapel. These were
afterward rearranged as a single volume.
The singing of the inmates became a marked feature of
the life of these institutions and something like a feature of
London life itself; drawing the general public to the chapel
services and to the united service held annually in one of the
churches and later in St. Paul's. "Charity children" were,
moreover, commonly distributed among the parish churches,
to act as a choir, taking their hymns with them. In this
way they did much toward making hymn singing familiar
and popular; just as in our own day the Sunday schools,
coming into the churches with their liturgical services, have
so widely affected the ordinary worship of non-liturgical
churches.
(5) The other section of the progressive element was less
free in its ways. It was more or less interested in musical
improvement : the desired improvement in the subject matter
of Psalmody it had found by introducing Tate and Brady's
New Version (1696) into its parish churches. It was not
interested in the Revival Hymnody nor in the hymn books
of the Evangelicals, but favored supplementing the psalms
with a few hymns for festivals and other church occasions.
We have already described*^ ^ the early embodiment of such
desire in the Supplement to the New Version, first printed
"'There is suggestivencss in the advertisement it carries of its
publisher's shop : "Where also may be had, Six favourite Hymns used
at the Tabernacles of the Rev. Mess. White field and Wesley."
"See chap. ii.
346 THE ENGLISH HYMN
in 1700, with its paraphrases of canticles and six other
hymns increased to nine in 1 708.
In 1 74 1 John Arnold of Great Warley, Essex, printed a
setting of the psalms, in the Playford fashion, as TJie Com-
plcat Psahuodisf. In four books: the fourth being "A Select
Number of Divine Hymns on various occasions," mostly
the festivals and Good Friday. He included one each from
Ken and Watts and two from the Tate and Brady Supple-
ment, and sixteen less familiar. Most of the hymns were
de trop, and were dropped out of later editions, but one,
"Jesus Christ is ris'n to-day," ultimately attached itself to
the New Version. It was partly taken (like its stirring
tune) from the earlier Lyra Davidica: a Collection of
Divine songs and Hymns (London, 1708) : a book from
an unknown hand, notable as an early attempt to interest
English people in the "divine songs" and "pleasant tunes"
of the Germans.
The Supplement itself was kept in print, and copies of
Tate and Brady bearing dates up to the middle of the
century occur with the Supplement bound in. Its hymns
were not therefore lost to sight; but the usual surviving
copies of like dates have no hymns. We may infer that
many parishes using Tate and Brady grew disposed to rest
satisfied with the good qualities of the psalms themselves.
During the last quarter of the century there came some
change in the situation. A disposition showed itself in what
we may call Tate and Brady circles to make more use of
the hymns in the Supplement, and to facilitate such use
by attaching them to the printed Psalters. The Rivingtons
issued in 1779 a small tractate entitled Hymns taken from
the Supplement to Tate and Brady's Psalter, and an undated
copy of the same has turned up which is thought to be
earlier.*'^ This tractate was intended to be inserted or bound
in current copies of Tate and Brady. In a London trade
edition of Tate and Brady of 1780, four hymns selected
''Catalogue of Charles Higham & Son, London, No. 503, October,
191 1, item 1950.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 347
from the Supplement appear printed at the end of the
psalms, following the Gloria Patri, with separate pagination,
and headed simply as HYMNS. They are :
Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come.
While Shepherds watch'd their flocks by Night.
Since Christ, our Passover, is slain.
Christ from the Dead is rais'd, and made.
In a Cambridge Press edition of 1782 a new selection of
hymns is printed at the end of the psalms, reflecting some-
thing of the current Hymnody, and including only one hymn
from the Supplement. They are :
High let us swell our tuneful notes (Doddridge).
Hark! the herald angels sing (Wesley).
Christ from the dead is rais'd, and made (Tate and Brady).
My God, and is thy table spread (Doddridge).
Awake, my soul, and with the sun (Ken).
In London trade editions of 1790 and 1792 all the above
hymns are printed, except "While Shepherds watch'd." In
another London trade edition of 1790 are the four hymns
of 1780, with Ken's Morning and Evening Hymns on
printed slips pasted in. The latter, and the Easter Hymn,
"Jesus Christ is ris'n to-day," also appear on printed slips
pasted in University Press editions. Thenceforward it be-
came the rule to print a group of hymns after the psalms
as though a constituent part of the Psalter, and this con-
tinued so long as the Neiv Version was kept in print. By
the beginning of the XlXth century the Clarendon Press
had its distinctive selection consisting of fifteen of the six-
teen hymns^^ and metrical canticles of the Supplement of
1700, with "O Lord, turn not Thy face away" from the
Appendix to the Old Version, and the four hymns from the
Cambridge edition of 1782. The Cambridge Press selection
differed by including all sixteen of the Supplement hymns,
and by adding (from about 1816) "Jesus Christ is ris'n
to-day" and Ken's Evening Hymn; but some copies from
the Cambridge Press had a smaller selection.
These facts and dates are fitted to correct some current
*'The Commandments, "God spake these words," being omitted.
348 THE ENGLISH HYMN
impressions of the hymns appended to Tate and Brady's
New Version. It has been a sort of fashion to regard them
as something neghgible in the history of Church of Eng-
land Hymnody. It is assumed that they owe their place to
the mere whim of the printer, and that their consequent
introduction into worship was quite fortuitous and even
humorous. This familiar assumption appears to find its
only support in a surmise of Charles B. Pearson, who, in
an essay on "Hymns and Hymn-writers," says :
"The introduction of hymns for Christian seasons in particular ser-
vices is clue, probably, to 'the stationers' before the Revolution, and to
the University printers in modern times, more particularly to one of the
latter about half a century back, who, being a Dissenter, thought fit to
fill up the blank leaves at the end of the Prayer-book with hymns sug-
gested by himself, — a liberty to which, apparently, no objection was
raised by the authorities of the Church at that day, and thus 'factum
valet.'""
What the actual evidence seems to show is that the
hymns were added neither by dissenters nor by Evan-
gelicals, but by the Prayer Book party itself, and that they
were printed in the Psalters because they were already being
used in the services, and with a view of avoiding the neces-
sity of inserting the little booklets and printed slips con-
taining them. Indeed their significance seems to lie in their
direct connection with the original Supplement of 1700, as
showing how the continuous demand of the churchly yet
progressive element for a few liturgical hymns to supple-
ment the psalms kept open a channel of its own digging
for the introduction of hymn singing into the Church of
England.
It thus appears that in its own way and within its defined
limits the Prayer Book party co-operated with the freer
movements that were making a hymn singing Church. Its
special contribution was in getting its hymns printed in the
Psalters as though a part of the authorized Psalmody.
From this position they were never dislodged. And as the
Psalters were ordinarily bound up with the Prayer Books,
"^Oxford Essays, 1858.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 349
the hymns became for all practical purposes a part of the
Prayer Books themselves, even those distributed by the
"S. P. C. K." Whatever the legal niceties as to authoriza-
tion may have been, henceforward the opponents of hymn
singing — and they were many and bitter — were handicapped
by the presence of the hymns within the sacred covers of
the Prayer Book itself.
4. The Period of Compromise: "Psalms and Hymns"
IN Parish Churches (1785-1819)
We now take up the Hymnody and hymn book making
of the Evangelical Party from the date of Olney Hymns
(1779). It was, as has been said, the last of the earlier
series that had little to distinguish them from the hymn
books of dissent; and the conservatives were justified if
they regarded it as a somewhat extreme example of that
type. Just how the Evangelical leaders regarded it is
difficult to estimate. Most of them probably welcomed it
for its hymns; none certainly as the model for a church
hymn book.^*^ The series of hymn books immediately fol-
lowing might seem to indicate a reaction from the un-
churchly tendencies of Olncy Hymns. But their altered
complexion in reality reflected the change passing over the
Evangelical movement itself. Like Methodism it had begun
within the Church but apart from the parochial order and
worship. Its beginnings had been extra-parochial, and even
to the end of the XVIIIth century its strength lay in
proprietary chapels, endowed lectureships and other centres
of influence that had a measure of freedom. But with the
waning of the century the movement began to draw estab-
lished parishes within its control and to influence parishes
not to be accounted Evangelical. The Evangelicals them-
selves moderated their views, sought a closer conformity to
""Its publication probably seems more notable to us who look back
than it did to the Evangelical leaders of the time. Richard Cecil, in
his authorized Memoir of the Rev. John Newton (ed. H. T. Warren,
Finsbury, n. d., p. 26), makes only incidental mention of it.
350 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the order and manners of their Church, and became dis-
posed to affihate more with the moderate element of the
Prayer Book party.
These changes favored first of all the extension of hymn
singing into the regular services of parish churches, and
consequently a compromise with the accustomed order of
psalm singing in those churches, by which both psalms and
hymns should have equal recognition and use in parochial
"Psalmody." To provide for this the new series of Evan-
gelical hymn books became not only in name but in reality
collections of "Psalms and Hymns."
From Olncy Hymns we pass at once to Psalms and
Hymns, collected by William Bromley Cadogan (ist ed.,
1785: 4th, 1803), rector at Chelsea and also at Reading.
It contains a complete metrical Psalter, with 150 hymns
chosen and arranged in the earlier manner. There is a
similar provision of psalms in the Psalms and Hymns of
John Venn (London, 1785) and in Basil Woodd's book of
1794, hereafter to be described. And, it may be added,
Church of England hymn books continued to be "Psalms
and Hymns" down to the Oxford Revival. These Evan-
gelical leaders took as much pains as Romaine himself to
provide Psalm versions that should maintain or revive an
interest in psalm singing. One of them indeed, Richard
Cecil, followed Romaine for a while. His Psalms of David
(1785) is confined to canonical Psalms, the versions drawn
from the best available sources, including Addison and
Milton. Not until 1806 did he add Hymns for the principal
festivals of the Church of England. His collection had
reached a thirty-second edition by 1840. Thomas Robinson,
in the hymn book made for his church at Leicester (before
1790) included nothing from either the Old or Nezv Ver-
sions of the Psalms. He may have been moved by associa-
tions of them with his unwelcomed coming to Leicester,
"when the choir bellowed the most unsuitable psalms instead
of those which he instructed the clerk to announce."*'^
''Balleine, The Evangelical Party, p. 121.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 351
The conjunction of Psalms and Hymns in parish worship
did something to bring more closely together the two main
agencies of hymn singing — the Evangelicals, who cared
most for hymns, and the moderate Prayer Book element,
which wished to retain Psalmody supplemented by hymns
for holy days and occasions. It remained for Basil Woodd,
an Evangelical leader of the second generation, — not a
rector but preacher and indeed proprietor of Bentinck
Chapel, Marylebone, — to take a further step, and bring the
two parties to something very like the unity of a common
ground in Hymnody. His project was to adapt Hymnody
to the Prayer Book system itself. He conceived the ideal
of a hymn book that should be "the companion to the Book
of Common Prayer."
The book in which Woodd embodied his ideal appeared
at London in 1794 as The Psalms of Daind, and other
portions of the Sacred Scriptures, arranged according to
the order of the Church of England, for every Sunday in the
year; also for the Saints' Days, Holy Coninmnion, and other
services. The promise of the title was scrupulously ful-
filled. Under the heading of each Sunday and holy day of
the Christian Year a metrical psalm was designated to serve
as the Introit provided for in the rubrics of the first Prayer
Book of Edward VI. Then followed one or more hymns,
adapted to the Epistle or Gospel or subject of the day. The
whole was followed by selections of hymns for Communion,
Baptism and other church offices and occasions, and a few
for general use in public worship. The selection of hymns,
from all the materials then available, was good, and in later
editions some originals were added.
In a word this interesting book stamped Hymnody with
the mark of the Church rather than of a party. It pointed
the way of making hymns a constituent part of the liturgical
order rather than a formless body of song intruded from
without under the Revival impulse. It was Woodd in 1794,
and not Heber in 1809-22, who first worked out the ideal of
"A Hymnal Companion to the Prayer Book," and thus
352 THE ENGLISH HYMN
anticipated the form in which ultimately Hymnody came
to be accepted by the straitest school of churchmanship as
an enrichment of the service.
This is not to say that Woodd set up a model at once
followed by succeeding editors. On the contrary the editor
next succeeding was that uncompromising Evangelical,
Charles Simeon of Cambridge, who trained so many evan-
gelical preachers and by deed of trust constituted Evan-
gelicalism as a distinct denomination within the bounds of
the Church. Simeon sought every occasion to vindicate his
"regard for the Liturgy and Services of our Church."^^
His real concern was for the sermon and for a Hymnody
that would illustrate its doctrine and enforce its appeals.
He published in 1795 A Collection of Psalms and Hymns.
It contained a much abridged selection of psalms. Other-
wise the book affiliates in contents and manner with the
earlier Evangelical group. Its hymns follow the subject
of discourse, its "Time and seasons" are Morning, Eve-
ning, Spring, Summer, Harvest, and so forth. Even
Easter and Christmas appear only in the table of contents
and in this way — ," Christmas-Day, See Incarnation." As
more than a hundred scattered parishes came to be included
in "The Simeon Trust," the use of his Collection was wide-
spread and long continued. ^^ It thus kept alive in these
and doubtless other parishes a distinctly Evangelical
Hymnody, in no way differing from that of dissenting
bodies holding similar convictions.
The general trend was, however, otherwise. The influ-
ence of Woodd's more churchly conception, even in his own
party appears, for example, in Biddulph's Selection of
Hymns accommodated to the service of the Church of Eng-
land (2nd ed., 1804) ; in Cecil's similar Appendix of 1806,
already referred to; and in John Venn's Appendix of the
same year Containing Hymns for tJie principal festiz'als of
"^Cf. Wm. Carus, Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Charles Simeon,
chap, xii, 3rd ed., London, 1848, pp. 210 ff.
^''The i.sth edition appeared in 1837.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 353
the Church of England; and for family and private use.
Venn's book was decidedly evangelical under its churchly
frame work and its expedient of "private" hymns. He
represented the "Clapham sect," the new missionary society
and The Christian Observer; and his little book introduced
hymns into many "country congregations," for whom it was
designed. In extending hymn singing beyond the Evan-
gelical pale, Woodd played a greater part.
But, in general, those concerned for the integrity of the
Prayer Book system were not yet converted to the latter day
Hymnody. They saw with dismay hymn singing spread-
ing from parish to parish, and new hymn books appearing
on every side. Of these, during the first two decades of
the XlXth century there were not less than fifty.'^^ A
number of them were designed for use in a single parish.
Of those of more general type, the most important, not
already mentioned, were : J. Fawcett's A Collection of
Psalms and Hymns from various authors (Carlisle, 1802;
4th ed., 181 1 ) ; J. Kempthorne's Select portions of Psalms
and Hymns from various authors (London, 1810) ; Thos.
Cotterill's A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for public and
private use (Newcastle, 18 10; 8th ed., Sheffield, 1819) ; and
G. T. Noel's A Selection of Psalms and Hymns from the
New Version . . . and others (London, c. 1811).'^^
'"The fullest, though incomplete, list is in Julian's Dictionary, pp.
333, 334-
"The hymn books of this period introduced a few new hymn writers.
To Fawcett's book Joseph Dacre Carlyle contributed his hymns
including "Lord, when we bend before Thy throne." Cotterill wrote
many for the various editions of his Selection, and they attained
considerable use. To its Qth edition, John Cawood contributed, among
others, "Hark! what mean those holy voices?" and "Almighty God, Thy
word is cast." The most voluminous writer was William Hurn, who,
while vicar of Debenham, published Psalms and Hymns, the greater
part original (Ipswich, 1813), containing more than 230 of his own.
Their number was greatly increased in his Hymns and Spiritual Songs
(Woodbridge, 1824), after he had seceded from the church. During
this period also Sir Robert Grant was publishing hymns in The
Christian Observer (1806-1815) and Reginald Heber printed his in the
same periodical (i8u-i8i6).
354 THE ENGLISH HYMN
It seemed to the conservatives that a purely voluntar
system of worship was intruding into, if not threatening i,
supplant, the Prayer Book system. "The importance which,
in many places, attaches to the Hymn Book," said Bishop
Marsh, "is equal, if not superior, to the importance ascribed
to the Prayer Book.'^^ The objections urged against the
Hymn Book were mainly two : It may tend to introduce
false doctrines or to undermine Church doctrine in the
minds of those using it; or it may (as in some instances
already) offend against reverence in worship by the
"flippancy and vulgarity" of its contents.
There were, doubtless, elements of disorder, and even of
danger, in this unchecked zeal for hymnal making. But the
opposition took deeper ground and aimed at the total sup-
pression of hymn singing itself as introduced and practised
without even the shadow of authority. Woodd, in his
preface, had cited the uniformity statute of Edward VI,
authorizing the use of "any Psalm or Prayer taken out
of the Bible at any due time," and Queen Elizabeth's In-
junctions of 1559, permitting "an hymn or such-like song"
"in the beginning or in the end of common prayer." He
claimed also that the prose hymns and Veni Creator in the
Prayer Book involved an authorization of the singing of
Hymns. Some of his successors endeavored to strengthen
their cause by securing permission to dedicate their collec-
tions to some friendly prelate.'^^
Some bishops, on the other hand, were so confident that
nothing but the Old or New Version of the Psalms was
authorized for use that they warmly protested against, or
even prohibited, the employment of hymns within their
"A Charge delivered at the primary visitation of Herbert, Lord
Bishop of Peterborough, in July, 1820; with an appendix, containing
some remarks on the modern custom of singing in our churches un-
authorized Psalms and Hymns. London, 1820.
"The editors of Psalms and Hymns, selected for the Churches of
Buckden (181 5) dedicate it by permission to Bishop Tomline (of
Lincoln) ; and in the 2nd ed. (1820) state it to be "sanctioned by the
authority of that distinguished prelate."
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 355
dioceses. We find Simeon in 1814 writing to an Evan-
gelical friend to *'put aside Hymns" rather than to continue
his unseemly contest with his bishop.'^ The Bishop of
Exeter is said to have prohibited the use of Ken's Morning
and Evening Hymns within his diocese.'^
The opposition w^as brought to a head by the publication
in 1819 of an eighth and enlarged edition of Thomas Cot-
terill's A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for public and
private use, adapted to the ser^'ices of the Church of Eng-
land. Sheffield: printed for the editor, by J. Montgomery
at the Iris-office. 18 ig: and his attempt to enforce its use
upon his congregation at St. Paul's. Sheffield. This caused
much disturbance in the congregation, of which some out-
side opponents of hymns took advantage; and suit was
brought against Cotterill in the Consistory Court of the
Archbishop of York. The Chancellor decided that hymn
singing was an irregularity without due authority, but he
assumed that none could wish to attack a practice that had
become so general and was so edifying. He refused costs
and postponed sentence upon Cotterill for his irregularity,
virtually reducing the issue before him to a question of the
merits of Cotterill's book, which "certainly contained a
great many excellent Psalms and Hymns to which there
could be no reasonable objection."'*^ He intimated that
the interests of religion required a compromise of the suit,
and offered the services of the Archbishop as mediator. In
the end the compromise was efifected. Cotterill's book was
withdrawn, and a new one,'^ smaller and less markedly
evangelical, was prepared under the eye of Archbishop
Harcourt and at his expense, and the Sheffield church was
supplied with a sufficiency of copies, each bearing the in-
''*Memoirs, ed. cited, p. 272.
"7/ie Christian Observer, July, 1822, p. 435, n.
'"For the legal proceedings, see An Inquiry into historical facts
relative to parochial Psalmody [by J. Gray], York, 1821, pp. 46 ff.
"A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for public worship, London,
T. Cadell, 1820 (29th ed., 1840).
356 THE ENGLISH HYMN
scription : "The gift of his Grace the Lord Archbishop c:
York."'^8
These curious proceedings, from which no appeal wa
taken, did not change the irregular status of Hymnody, bui
they certainly discouraged further legal contests. In 1822
H. J. Todd, of the York diocese, published a pamphlet,^ ^
urging the sole authority of the old Psalmody; in 1820 the
Bishop of Peterborough charged against the liberty exer-
cised by parishes in introducing hymn books,*'^ in which he
was followed by the Bishop of Killaloe, Ireland, in 1821.*^
But in general the ground was regarded as cleared of practi-
cal obstructions, and the making of new hymn books pro-
ceeded apace in the years following the York settlement.
In these books the influence of Cotterill's, in spite of its
suppression, is very marked. Though somewhat on earlier
lines, it was a fresh selection, at which the poet Montgomery
assisted. And it had the distinction of introducing into
church use some fifty of his hymns, thus contributing to
the permanent enrichment of Hymnody. In the interests,
real or supposed, of the "good taste" at which Cotterill
aimed, Montgomery also altered freely the texts of his pre-
decessors. As Cotterill's Selection served as a source book
for numerous succeeding compilers, it happened that these
tinkered texts frequently remained the standard till very
recent times, in some cases to the present day.
We may now regard hymn singing in the Church of Eng-
land as having passed the stage of intrusion and even of
toleration, and to have reached that of substantial recogni-
tion. It had not superseded the singing of metrical Psalms
but had reduced the Psalter to a selection of psalms, with
which hymns were incorporated on equal footing. As to
its prevalence we have the testimony of the editors of the
'M» Inquiry, &c., pp. 74, 75.
'''Observations upon the metrical version of the Psalms, London,
F. C. & J. Rivington, 1822.
'"See note no. 72.
"Fully quoted in Todd, op. cit., pp. 22 flf.
HYMNODY OF EVANGELICAL REVIVAL 357
Buckden Selection: "There are, perhaps, not many large
congregations in our national Church, where some Psalms,
different from the old and new versions, and some Hymns,
founded upon the history and doctrines of the Gospel, have
not been adnn'tted." More authoritative was the assumption
of the Chancellor at York that no one having the interests
of religion at heart would wish to disturb "the prevalent
usage," "so edifying and acceptable to congregations."
This change had found its opportunity here, as else-
where, in the decadence and indifference into which the old
Psalmody had fallen. It had been brought about, first by
the desire of musical improvement and for the recognition
of church festivals and fasts, but mainly by the "enthu-
siasm" of the Evangelical Revival, and the persistence of
the Evangelical Party within the Church.*^ The practice
of hymn singing had passed beyond the limits of party, but
had not as yet brought itself into close relation with the
Prayer Book system. The supply of hymn books was
copious, and their very diversity had already suggested the
need (not yet filled) of a collection of hymns compiled and
issued under competent authority.*^ The Hymnody itself
bore the marks (never yet obliterated) of its Evangelical
origin in its general non-sectarian character. Its dealings
with individual experience, and its mingling together of
the work of churchman and dissenter.
"The valuable introduction to Hymns ancient and modern, His-
torical edition, 1909, appears to the present writer to ignore the main
agency of the Evangelicals within the Church in introducing Hymnody,
and to transfer it to the musical development of London Charities.
^'See Todd, op. cit., pp. 28, 29.
CHAPTER VIII
THE EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA.
ITS ADOPTION DELAYED BY VARIOUS
CAUSES
The Evangelical Revival may be said to have come to
America bodily in the person of Whitefield. He embarked
for his second visit in August, 1739, fresh from the revival
scenes that had accompanied his preaching in England. His
connection with the Wesleys was still close, and his reprint
of their Hymns and sacred Poems at Philadelphia in 1740
has been already noticed.^ But it was during this visit
that John Wesley's publication of Arminian views called
forth Whitefield's vigorous protest, and no doubt empha-
sized the Calvinism of his own preaching in the American
tours that fanned the revival flame first kindled at North-
ampton into the widespread Great Awakening.
When Whitefield came, the American Churches were still
under the sway of the Metrical Psalmody tradition. The
Church of England congregations closed their doors upon
him, and the Great Awakening had no effect upon their dull
parochial psalm singing. The Baptists, especially in New
England, were at first indifferent, and the Revival had to
create an Evangelical party before it could arouse an interest
in an Evangelical Hymnody. Among Congregationalist
and Presbyterian psalm singers the effects of the Revival
on Church Song were immediate and final. It started an
irrepressible demand for a Hymnody corresponding to the
evangelical preaching. At that time Whitefield had taken
no steps toward developing a characteristic Hymnody of
^Chapter vi, part VIII, section I.
358
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 359
his own, and seems to have made httle use of the Wesleyan
Hymns. He was, however, then and always, in spite of
Dr. Watts' coldness toward his revival methods, a great
admirer of that divine's "System of Praise." A friend,
going to Whitefield's bedroom on the last night of his life,
"found him reading in the Bible, and with Dr. Watts' s
Psalms lying open before him."^ We may hence presume
Whitefield's entire acquiescence in the fact that the actual
effect of the Great Awakening was to start the "Era of
Watts" in American Hymnody.^
In 1753 the Hymnody of the Evangelical Revival found
an English embodiment in Whitefield's own Hymns for
social zcorship, prepared for his Tabernacle ; copies of which
he no doubt brought with him on subsequent visits to
America. While in Philadelphia, during his sixth visit, he
wrote to his friend Robert Keen, on September 21, 1764, —
"I received the hymn-books, "■* referring apparently to a
consignment of his own, the twelfth edition of which had
just appeared. During the following year, while he was
still in America, or after he had sailed for home on June 9,
the first American reprint of the hymn book appeared, from
the press of William Bradford, Philadelphia, 1765.^ In
the following year, while he was in England, the Bradfords
printed A Collection of Hymns for social worship. Ex-
tracted from various authors, and published by the Revd.
Mr. Madan, and the Revd. Mr. Whitefield. Philadelphia:
W. & T. Bradford, 1/66:^ a book whose identity is not
obvious.
In the year 1768, there were two American reprints of
'Jno. Gillies, Memoirs of George Whitefield, London, 1772; p. 271.
'C/. Chapter iv, part IV, sections I, i ; II, i.
'This clause does not appear in the letter as printed in Whitefield's
Works, London, 1771 (vol. iii, pp. 314, 315) ; but may be found in
L. Tyerman, Life of George Whitefield, ed. N. Y., 1877, vol. ii, p. 477.
*Hildcburn, Issues of the Pennsylvania Press, item 2181.
'^Ibid., item 2204. No surviving copy of either of these issues was
known to Hildeburn. Evans, in his American Bibliography, has merely
copied Hildeburn's entries.
36o THE ENGLISH HYMN
Whitefield's Hymns for social worship, one by James
Parker at New York, and one "Re-printed for, and sold by
John Mein, in Boston" ; both described on the title as "The
Thirteenth Edition." In London new editions continued
to appear for many years. There is no record of further
American reprints, and Whitefield's death at Newburyport
in 1770 does not seem to have suggested a republication.'^
He had made no effort to create a new American denomina-
tion, and the actual use of the known reprints of his hymn
book is far from clear. At a time of struggle to escape
from the bonds of a literal Psalmody, the warm and free
Hymnody of Whitefield's collection must have seemed to
most established congregations a novelty indeed.
On the whole the introduction of the Evangelical
Hymnody in the larger sense was considerably delayed by
various causes. There was first of all the addiction to
Metrical Psalmody which held fast the Episcopal and many
Presbyterian churches till the XlXth century. There was
the barrier of language which set apart the Dutch and
German Reformed and the Lutheran peoples from partici-
pation in English Hymnody of any sort. There was again
the enormous popularity of Watts in the Presbyterian and
Congregational and in many Baptist Churches, as they
became emancipated from the Psalmody tradition. And
yet it was not till after the Revolutionary War that the
use even of Watts' Psalms and Hymns became universal
in Congregational churches, and it was not till 1802 that
the use of the Hymns of Watts was formally authorized
by the Presbyterian General Assembly.
It thus appears not only that the introduction of the
Evangelical Hymnody was delayed, but that it was not
synchronous in the various denominations. While Congre-
gationalists and Presbyterians were still in the Era of
^In the case of hymn books particularly, the lack of any record of
publication is far from conclusive. For instance the Boston reprint
of 1768 of Whitefield's collection is not mentioned in any bibliography
known to the writer.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 361
Watts, the Baptists had introduced the Evangelical Hym-
nody; the Methodists had brought over the Wesleyan
Hymnody, the Episcopalians were still confined to metrical
psalms, the German Reformed had not even begun to use
English.
These differences in date are not however so great that
it matters much in what order we take up the period of
the Evangelical Hymnody in the various denominations. It
seems natural to begin with those whose Church Song we
have traced from the decline of Metrical Psalmody through
the Era of Watts : — the Baptist, Congregationalist and
Presbyterian. Then may follow the Churches which
crossed at once from the singing of psalms into the use
of the Evangelical Hymnody without passing through the
intermediate stage of any era of Watts' supremacy: — the
Protestant Episcopal and Reformed Dutch. Then come
the foreign-speaking Churches that brought here a
Hymnody in their own tongues; which, on adopting the
English, they supplemented by the Evangelical Hymnody
of their neighbors : — the German Reformed and Lutherans.
The denominations born on American soil may be con-
sidered chronologically or in connection with the Churches
out of which they came, as the interests of lucidity suggest.
American Methodism kept in the main to the Hymnody of
the Methodist side of the Revival, and to that home-made
Revival Hymnody so often seeming like a parody of the
Wesleyan ; and during the period now under review requires
no further consideration.
II
ITS USE BY THE BAPTISTS
I. Its Early Welcome among Regular Baptists
(1790-1850)
The Baptist Churches, when once their XVIIth century
scruples against singing had been left behind, had found
362 THE ENGLISH HYMN
less difficulty in the way of introducing hymns than other
Churches where the Psalmody tradition prevailed. And
when their XVHIth century tendency to "Arminianism" had
been turned into strenuous Calvinism by the "New Light"
of the Great Awakening and the conflict with Methodism
in the new evangelization, the Baptists were in as favor-
able a position as any to receive the new Evangelical
Hymnody.
Their churches had been among the earliest in America
to adopt Watts' Psalms and Hymns. Their first denomina-
tional hymn book (Newport, 1766) had for its special
motive the desire for Baptismal Hymns, and did not go
beyond Watts in the evangelical direction. But the 1790
Selection of the Philadelphian Association was largely based
on the 1767 Collection of N. Conyers, one of the Church of
England Evangelicals, and the 1792 reprint of Rippon's
Selection put American Baptists in early possession of much
of the Evangelical Hymnody.
Here, as in England, Rippon's Selection was not used as
a substitute for Watts' Psalms and Hymns, but as supple-
menting them on "Subjects of discourse" left unprovided
for; and the same thing was true of the Selection added to
Watts by Winchell in 1819. These supplements did not,
however, greatly appeal to the less educated type of
preacher, and were regarded as especially insufficient to
meet the needs of evangelistic work. So that Watts and
the Evangelical Hymnody and Revival Songs held a con-
temporaneous place in Baptist Church Song, and in studying
its history during the Era of Watts^ we have therefore
covered also so much of the period of the Evangelical
Hymnody as lay within the dates of our study.
We left off at the point where the hold of "Watts entire"
upon educated congregations was strengthened by the use
in New England of Winchell's Watts' and select and in
the Middle States of Watts and Rippon, while to the West
and South there was a wide preference for "Spiritual
^Ante, chap, iv, part IV, section III.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 363
Songs." In the West the situation was probably bettered
by H. Miller's A new Selection of Psalms, Hymns, and
Spiritual Songs, from the best authors (Cincinnati). It
was strong in Watts and the Baptist writers of his school,
used some of the later Evangelical Hymnody and included
a large collection of "Spiritual Songs," often of the better
type. It was a book of the sort that influences thousands
of plain people without gaining much notice beyond its
constituency; it reached a fifteenth edition in 1833, and a
twenty-first in 1839.
In New England the situation was little affected by the
publication of Manual of Christian Psalmody (Boston and
Philadelphia, 1832), which was merely a variation of
Lowell Mason's Church Psalmody made by Rufus Bab-
cock Jr., of Salem, and designed to supersede Winchell;
nor by Linsley and Davis' Select Hymns, adapted to the
devotional services of the Baptist Denomination (Hartford,
1836: 2nd ed., 1837), designed only to supplement Win-
chell. To the latter Mrs. Sigourney contributed some
hymns, of which "Laborers of Christ, arise" became widely
used.
Many congregations in the Middle States, as well as the
South and West, introduced The Baptist Hymn Book;
original and selected. In two parts. By W. C. Buck, pastor
of the East Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky. (Louisville,
1842). Ten thousand copies were sold within two years,
and the revised edition of 1844 long continued to be re-
printed. Buck was an educated man, a famous platform
speaker, and in his old age a Confederate chaplain. But his
collection of 868 "Hymns" and 211 "Songs" did not much
further the best interests of Baptist Hymnody.
In many sections the demand grew for a hymn book
more modern than Winchell's or Rippon's Watts and better
than Miller's or Buck's, on which it was hoped the churches
might unite. In 1841 the Publication Society began prepara-
tions to meet the demand, only to learn that a Boston pub-
lishing house was about to issue a hymn book with similar
364 THE ENGLISH HYMN
aims. To this, though only a pubHsher's enterprise, the
Society decided to lend its name in order to avoid a miilti-
pHcation of hymn books.^ It appeared as The Psalmist: a
nezv Collection of Hymns for the use of the Baptist
Churches. By Baron Stow and S. F. Smith. Boston: Gould,
Kendall, and Lincoln. 184^. Stow was a successful Boston
pastor, and Smith was becoming known as a writer of
hymns and the patriotic song "America."
Judged from a modern standpoint The Psalmist had
many faults. Its size ( 1 1 80 hymns ) was due to the demand
for a hymn on every important sermon topic. ^° The editors'
ignorance of the sources of the hymns and too free dealings
with the texts were also of the time, however regrettable ;
their entire ignorance of the Wesleyan Hymns and their
handling of them surely inexcusable at so late a day.^^
Again the book was of its time rather than in advance of
it in its use of 303 numbers from Watts, 57 from Dod-
dridge, 52 from Miss Steele, and 41 from Beddome, and in
having 700 hymns in long and common metre. The attempt
throughout to curtail the hymns to a mechanical standard
of four stanzas or less, seems intended to gratify preachers
who wished full sermons and short hymns, and is described
by a reviewer as "convenient."-*^^
And yet on the whole The Psalmist marked a decided
advance. It gave the Baptists precedence over other denomi-
nations in leaving behind the "Psalms and Hymns" era of
compromise with the Psalmody tradition. It delivered them
from the weight of "Watts entire" and rose superior to
the Baptist predilection for "Spiritual Songs." It added to
the Evangelical Hymnody, already familiar, much from
Montgomery and other newer writers, and was the best
selection of hymns the Baptists had ever had; "the best
'Note prefixed to The Psalmist.
"Preface, p. 6.
"For this they were properly brought to book in The Methodist
Review, July, 1849, p. 448.
"r/rr Christian Review, Sept., 1843, p. 452.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 365
collection," said The Christian Reviczv (of which Smith
was editor), "ever published in the English language."^^
Hymn writing by American Baptists up to that date is
represented in The Psalmist by eleven writers. Twenty-six
hymns by Smith outnumber those of all the others. His
"The morning light is breaking" and "Softly fades the
twilight ray," are widely sung, "While through the land
the strains resound"^"* of his "My country, 'tis of thee." Of
other writers are two by Adoniram Judson, two by Sewall
S. Cutting who edited a book of his own, Hymns for the
vestry and fireside ( 1841 ), and one by Henry S. Washburn
who in old age gathered his Vacant Chair and other poems.
The Psalmist fulfilled expectations in the North, becom-
ing a bond of unity between the churches. It was set to
music in i860, and supplemented by The Baptist Harp
(Philadelphia, 1849) ^o^ social services. In the South it
failed through its omission of many hymns of local popu-
larity, and Drs. Richard Fuller and J. B. Jeter were engaged
to embody these in A Supplement (1850). But the South-,
ern Publication Society made its own book, The Baptist
Psalmody; a Selection of Hymns for the worship of God
(Charleston, 1851); and this, with Sidney Dyer's The
Southwestern Psalmist, later Dyers Psalmist (Louisville),
shared in the South the position taken by The Psalmist in
the North. Dyer contributed sixteen hymns to his collec-
tion, and published two volumes of his verse. These books,
with revival song books, such as Elder (Jacob) Knapp's
The Evangelical Harp (Utica, 1845), and John Dowling's
popular Conference Hymns (New York, 1849), luring Bap-
tist Hymnody down to the time when Beecher's Plymouth
Collection and the Andover Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book
began to change the face of Congregational Song.
"September, 1843, p. 450.
"O. W. Holmes to S. F. Smith, Octo. 21, 1888. For the history of
the hymn see the writer's Studies of Familiar Hymns, Phila., 1903,
chap, ix: for Smith's collected hymns and verse, see his I'uems of
Home and Country, New York, 1895.
366 THE ENGLISH HYMN
2. Diverging Currents of Baptist Hymnody
There arose, however, during the period under review,
a number of denominations holding Baptist views but
separate from the main body ; and whose Hymnody in some
cases demands separate consideration.
(i) The Freewill Baptists. Henry Alhne, born at
Newport in 1748, became a fiery evangehst in Nova Scotia
and a great disturber of church relationships.^'' Among
his numerous publications was a collection of no less than
487 original Hymns and Spiritual Songs, somewhat in
Doddridge's manner, but without his distinction. The Free-
will Baptists of Nova Scotia and New England may be
regarded as Alline's disciples. In New Hampshire, during
a visit to which Alline died in 1784, the first Freewill Baptist
church had been founded in 1871 by Benjamin Randall, ^^
who dated his conversion to impressions produced by White-
field's death, but who became an aggressively anti-Calvinis-
tic Baptist. A third edition of Alline's Hymns "with some
enlargements" under Randall's auspices, ^^ appeared at
Dover in 1797; another at "Stonington-port, (Con.)" in
1802. i«
With the growth of the denomination the demand arose
for a denominational hymn book, and the General Confer-
"There is an account of Alline and his work in The Christian
Instructor, Pictou, Nova Scotia, vol. iv, 1859, for February and the
months following. See also D. Benedict, Genl. Hist, of Bapt. Denom-
ination, Boston, 1813, vol. i, pp. 282 ff.
"See Benedict, vol. ii, pp. 410 ff.
"The enlargements consisted of a Farewell Hymn by Alline, an
added hymn by Benjamin Randall, and an account by David McClure
of Alline's death. Alline's hymn, addressed "to the Christians," con-
firms Benedict's statement that some of his followers preferred that
name.
^"Some of Alline's hymns are in Elias Smith's Hymns for the use
of Christians (1805). His best hymn, "Amazing sight, the Saviour
stands," was included in Nettleton's Village Hymns, and taken thence
into Dr. Hatfield's Presbyterian The Church Hymn Book (New York,
1872). There, and even in the Freewill Baptist collection of 1832, it
is marked "Anon."
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 367
ence arranged for the publication of Hymns for Christian
Melody. Selected from various authors. Boston: published
by Daiid Marks, for the Free-will Baptist Connection
(1832). It gathered its 1000 hymns from practically
all available sources, and is distinguished by its large use
of the "Methodist Selection," and an avoidance of "Hymns
of the lower grade." The statement of the preface that
"Experience has proved no composition of an inferior
character can long be used to edification," may refer back
to the outgrown hymns of Alline, or to later attempts to
introduce current revival songs. This book was super-
seded in 1853 by an even larger and carefully prepared col-
lection of 1232 hymns, The Psalmody: a Collection of
Hymns for public and social worship. Compiled by order
of the Freezvill Baptist General Conference (Dover, N. H.) .
In this there is less of the Wesleys, but it is notable for a
section of "Anti-slavery" Hymns, a cause to which the
denomination committed itself as early as 1835 to the
detriment of its own growth.
(2) The Dunkers (Tunkers, German Baptist Brethren,
The Brethren) who organized at Germantown, near Phila-
delphia, in 1723, found need for an English hymn book as
early as 1791 : — The Christians Duty, exhibited, in a series
of Hymns: collected from various authors, designed for
the worship of God, and for the edification of Christians,
recommended to the serious, of all denominations. By the
Fraternity of Baptist's. The first edition. Germantown,
printed by Peter Leibert, 1791. (2nd edition, 1801 ; 3rd,
1813). The collections prepared by Elhanan Winchester
for the "Universal Baptists" of Philadelphia^^ must have
been among "The several sorts of Hymn Books" referred
to in the preface as "in Meeting at once," and served as a
source book for much of the materials of this. Many of
the hymns of Watts and of the Evangelical Revival were
included, with one "For washing of Feet." This collection
of 352 hymns was enlarged rather than modified by A
"Chapter iv, part iv, section III, 2, (i).
368 THE ENGLISH, HYMN
Selection of Hymns, from 7'anous authors, supplementary
for the use of Christians. First edition. Germantown: pub-
lished by John Leibert, June 2, 18 16: the original book
reaching a fourth edition in 1825.
Many Dunkers took part in the settlement of the Middle
West; and the West had its own hymn book in A choice
Selection of Jlymns, from various authors recommended
for the worship of God (stereotype edition, Henry Kurtz,
Poland, O,, 1852). It had many of the hymns from The
Christian's Duty, and a new one "At washing feet," around
which ordinance a controversy arose in the West.
After the unavoidable separations of the Civil War, in
which they took no part, this quaint and good people united
(as though nothing had happened) in General Meeting,
which published A Collection of Psalms, Hymns and
Spiritual Songs . . . adapted to the Fraternity of the
Brethren (Covington, O., 1867). Tunes were provided in
a musical edition, The Brethren's Hymn and Tune Book
(1872; revised edition, 1879). Of the 818 hymns at least
125 deal with death and heaven, but neither in that propor-
tion nor in other features is there much to differentiate
the Brethren's Hymnody from the current evangelical hymn
books of the more solid type from which it was compiled
with some pains. After the unfortunate split of 1882 the
Progressive Brethren published a much inferior book, The
Brethren Hymnody zvith tunes (Wilmington, O., 1884),
about equally divided between hymns of the standard type
and "many favorites of the later variety" popular in Sun-
day schools and evangelistic services. The conservatives
followed in The Brethren Hymnal: a Collection of Psalms,
Hymns, and Spiritual Songs . . . Compiled under direc-
tion of the General Conference of the German Baptist
Brethren Church (Elgin, 111., 1901), which also, it must
be confessed, creates an impression of a lowered educational
standard.
(3) The Mennonites began coming to America at a
very early period, and may be grouped under the Baptists
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 369
in the sense that they practice believers' baptism only,
though ordinarily by affusion. Small in number, they are
yet divided into twelve independent sects, several of which
speak German exclusively. Even in the parent body sing-
ing in English was long deferred, beginning with A Collec-
tion of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. Suited to
the various occasions . . . of the Church of Christ. By
a committee of the Mennonites (Mountain Valley, Va. : 4th
ed. with an appendage of German hymns, 1859). It also
has its hymns "For feet washing," but is otherwise com-
piled from the hymn books of the time w^ith little distinctive-
ness and less distinction. Hymns and Tunes for public
and private worship and Sunday schools. Compiled by
a committee (Elkhart, Ind. : Mennonite Publ. Co., 1890)
is a fresh selection, with original contributions both of
hymns and music. A choice Collection of spiritual Hymns
. . . designed for the use of the Evangelical United Men-
nonites and all lovers of Zion (Goshen, Ind. : E. U. Men-
nonite Pub. Soc, 1881) has no less than six hymns "For
feet washing," and exhibits an educational standard some-
what below the average.
(4) The Church of God. John Winebrenner, while
pastor of the German Reformed church at Harrisburg, Pa.,
conducted a revival whose methods were criticized, and he
left that denomination in 1825 to continue revival work
in the neighborhood. Several congregations were formed,
and in 1831 a new denomination, "The Church of God in
North America," which, while avoiding the name, is a Bap-
tist Church. For its hymn book it naturally adopted its
founder's A Prayer Meeting and Revival Hymn Book; or
a Selection of the best "Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual
Songs," from various authors, for the use of social prayer
meetings and revivals of religion. By John Winebrenner,
V.D.M. (Harrisburg, 1825). It is a compilation of 501
hymns, afterward increased by y2, including some of a
standard character, but prevailingly of the revival and camp-
meeting order. With the spread of the Church it reached
370 THE ENGLISH HYMN
a tenth edition in 185 1. Its style of Church Hymnody,
however unconventional, is natural enough in view of the
denominational origin and conditions.
(5) The Disciples of Christ (Campbellite Baptists;
Christians), though left to the last, represent the most im-
portant schism of the Baptist body, and are now one of the
largest American Churches. They trace their origin on the
one side to the Kentucky Revival; Barton W. Stone, one
of its Presbyterian leaders, organizing in 1804 a body with-
out a creed, called "Christians" : on the other to Alexander
Campbell, organizing "non-sectarian" congregations, join-
ing the Redstone and then the Mahoning Baptist Associa-
tions; diverting many Baptist congregations from the specu-
lative Calvinism then prevailing and from their denomina-
tional allegiance; uniting in 1827 with the followers of
Stone to form a church with no creed but the Scriptures.
Campbell impressed his personality upon the Hymnody
as upon everything else connected with the Disciples. He
objected not only to the doctrines of current hymn books,
but to the fact that they were doctrinal. They are, he said,
"in general a collection of everything preached in the range
of the system of the people who adopt them." "They are
our creed in metre" : yet "in common life men are not dis-
posed to sing their opinions," but "love-songs, the praises
of heroes, and the triumphs of wars." "Christians are
the same men sanctified : let the love of God, the praises
of the character and achievements of the Captain of their
salvation, animate their Hymns. "^'^
There was much truth in this judgment of the current
misuse of Hymnody. And yet men, natural or regenerate,
do like songs that express their convictions. Campbell him-
self could not carry out his principle. The Baptismal
Hymn, "O Lord, and will thy pardoning love embrace a
wretch so vile," certainly embodies his view of the connec-
tion of baptism with the remission of sins, and that begin-
ning "Reform and be immersed" seems to express an
^Introduction to his Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 371
opinion upon the mode of baptism. ^^ After all, Campbell's
view involved practically nothing more than discrimination
in using the hymns of other Churches; and in May, 1828,
he printed a small book of only 125 hymns preceded and
followed by brief treatises on Psalmody and Prayer. Only
five of the hymns were original, and they were unimpor-
tant.22
Stone and John T. Johnson had also made a hymn book,
which some preferred to Campbell's, and he, in order to
avoid rivalry and to supply more hymns, proposed "to
make of the twain one new hymn-book."-^ It appeared
as Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, original* and
selected. Compiled by A. Campbell, W. Scott, B. W. Stone,
and J. T. Johnson. Bethany, Va., 18^4. This attained a
seventh edition by 1841, and in 1851 was enlarged, the
words, With numerous additions and emendations.
Adapted to personal, family, and church worship. By
Alexander Campbell. First edition, being added to the
title. The hymn book appearing in New York in the same
year as Sacred Poetry, selected and amended, by Dr. S. E.
Shepard, by resolution of the Neiv York State Convention
of the Disciples of Christ was a bright and independent
selection.
In 1864 the Hymnody passed from Campbell's control
into that of the American Christian Missionary Society,
who made a fresh survey of outside hymn books, and con-
formed to the fashion of the time in a huge collection of
1320 hymns, — TJie Christian Hymn Book: a compilation
of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, original and
■'Spiritual Songs, Nos. 96, 97; Ps. Hys. & Sp. Songs, rev. ed., 1851.
"For their first lines see R. Richardson, Memoirs of Alexander
Campbell, vol. ii, ed. 1890, p. 658, note. These hymns remained in
the hymn book as long as Campbell kept control of it.
"'^Campbell in The Millennial Harbinger for May, 1834, p. 239.
"The original material is perhaps larger than can be traced, but
found no permanent acceptance. Stone was one of the hymn writers
of the Kentucky Revival. For his hymns see J. Rogers, The Biography
of Eld. Barton Warren Stone, 5th ed., Cincinnati, 1847, pp. 313 ff.
372 THE ENGLISH HYMN
selected. By A. Campbell and others. Revised and enlarged
by a committee. Cincinnati: H. S. Boszvorth, publisher.
1866. Tunes were provided in The Christian Hymnal
(Cincinnati, 1871). The nezv Christian Hymn and Tune
Book (Cincinnati, 1882 and 1887) is a collection of hymns
and "Gospel Songs" without distinction. The original
material of 1866 is small. It would be interesting to accept
the fact that the committee could find 1320 hymns in cur-
rent books where Campbell in 1828 found only 125 as
evidence that the churches had come to accept his canons
of Praise. But in fact the better part of the additions of
1866 is from XVIIIth century writers.
Ill
MAKING ITS WAY INTO CONGREGATIONAL
AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
I. The Era of Revival (1790-1832): "Village
Hymns"
The religious apathy that bound New England after the
Revolution was indifferent to any enlargement of the
church Hymnody and averse to any heightening of its
emotional atmosphere. It had taken the fervor of the Great
Awakening to turn the churches from Metrical Psalmody
to Watts, and it was in the renewed warmth of revival
that the Evangelical Hymnody began to prove acceptable.
About 1790 a movement made itself felt that, without the
leadership of a Whitefield or the questionable measures of
the earlier revival, spread into a Lesser Awakening.
In the revival services Watts' Psalms and Hymns had to
be depended on because most available. Olney Hymns itself
was reprinted in New York as early as 1787, and again in
1790 (Hodge, Allen and Campbell), in Philadelphia in
1792 (William Young), and often thereafter. It is not
likely that it was much used as a hymn book, though doubt-
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 373
less some of the hymns of the Evangelical Revival were
introduced by lining them out from this and other col-
lections.
A "very great demand" arose for hymns of the newer
type, arid "several booksellers" consulted the Hartford
pastors "for advice, which of the many selections of hymns
extant it would be most advisable to reprint."^^ They
reported in favor of a new hymn book, adapted to local
conditions, and were persuaded to undertake it. None was
more active in the revival than Nathan Strong, the sturdy
pastor of the First Church, and with the assistance of Abel
Flint, pastor of the Second Church, and of Joseph Steward,
one of his own deacons, he prepared The Hartford Selec-
tion of Hymns, from the most approved authors. To ivhich
are added a number never before published (Hartford:
John Babcock, 1799). Most of its 378 hymns were from
Olney Hymns, Doddridge, and Rippon's Selection, with
some originals, of which "Swell the anthem, raise the
song" is remembered. By prearrangement Jonathan Ben-
jamin issued an accompanying book of tunes {Harmonia
Coelestis, Northampton, Sept. 1799) mostly in the florid
manner of Madan's Lock Collection, and leaving the com-
piler's promise to provide for all "the particular metres",
unfulfilled.
The Hartford Selection brought into the churches some-
thing of the atmosphere of the Olney Revival, and was so
warmly welcomed as to reach an eighth edition in 182 1.
In 1833 a competent witness wrote: —
"It has been printed in greater numbers, has been dififused more
extensively, and has imparted more alarm to the sinner, and more
consolation to the saint, than any other compilation of religious odes
in this country, during a period of nearly thirty years." '"
But it did not much affect the supremacy of Watts in
the church services of established parishes. There is no
evidence that either of the Hartford compilers and pastors
"Preface to The Hartford Selection, 1799.
"Rev. Luther Hart in Christian Spectator, Sept., 1833, pp. 344. 345-
374 THE ENGLISH HYMN
introduced it into his own church."" It was rather the
precursor of the EvangeHstic Hymn Book; used in the re-
vival services then so general, in the conference meetings
of older parishes and in the new congregations which the
Connecticut Association was forming in the new settle-
ments. The Hartford Selection remains one of the land-
marks of New England Hymnody, — the first on the Cal-
vinistic side to get beyond the all-sufificiency of Watts, the
earliest of a series of hymn books born of the revival spirit
and without ecclesiastical sanction that first paralleled the
authorized Hymnody in Congregational and Presbyterian
churches and then contributed more or less to modify and
enrich it.
The relations of Connecticut Congregationalism with
Presbyterianism were so close as narrowly to escape coales-
cence. No doubt the missionaries of both used The Hart-
ford Selection in their joint labors in the new settlements,
and an actual junction of the authorized Psalmody of the
two bodies was effected by their common adoption of
President Dwight's rescension of Watts' Psalms of i8oi.^^
He knew what was expected of him, and in his appended
hymns kept mainly within the school of Watts, taking only
two of Olncy Hymns, and one of Charles Wesley which
he attributed to "Rippon."
Eighteen years later Dr. Worcester's Select Hymns^^
began to supplement Watts in Congregational churches of
the Massachusetts type, and were to prove a rival of the
authorized Psalms and Hymns in the Presbyterian Church.
He went further afield for his hymns than Dr. Dwight.
though with an astounding ignorance of geography,^*^ and
"The First Church adopted "Dwight's Watts" very soon after the
publication of The Hartford Selection. G. L. Walker, History of the
First Chureh in Hartford, Hartford, 1884, pp. 349, 394.
''See chap, iv, part IV, sect. I, i. ^'Ibid.
'"He ascribed "Jesus, Lover of my soul" to Cowper; "Guide me,
O Thou Great Jehovah" to Robinson; "Blow ye the trumpet, blow"
to Toplady; "Angels, roll the rock away" to Gibbons; "All hail the
power of Jesus' Name" to Duncan.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 375
his eclectic selection brought a number of the Evangelical
H^mns into church use.
"'Vhen Asahel Nettleton began his evangelistic labors in
New England and New York he used Watts' Psalms and
Hymns, and took special pleasure in hearing "the friends
of the Redeemer express their unqualified attachment" to
them.^^ But he soon felt their deficiencies and became
aware that the element in Congregational and Presbyterian
churches that was willing to cooperate with him was pre-
cisely that which had grown dissatisfied with Watts and
wanted a change. In 1820, when the General Association
of Connecticut appointed a committee to devise measures
of promoting religion, "the first item proposed was a New
Selection of Hymns." From within the bounds of Albany
Presbytery, and "very extensively in the W^est and South,"
the call for such a work was "imperious and pressing."^^
Both the Association and the Assembly put the matter
off. At length, when partially laid aside by illness, Nettle-
ton prepared and published in 1824 Village Hymns for
social worship. Selected and original. Designed as a Supple-
ment to the Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts. By Asahel
Nettleton (New York). It contained 600 Hymns. Nettle-
ton was indebted to Strong's Hartford Sclection,^^
Worcester's Select Hymns,^^ and to Hymns for the Monthly
Concert, printed in 1823 by Leonard Bacon, while a student
at Andover, where the foreign missionary movement had
just begun. Bacon's little book and Nettleton's "mission-
ary" section mark the beginning of American Missionary
Hymnody.^^ Of the Watts school Miss Steele had the largest
representation in 32 hymns; but Newton was the favorite,
"Preface to Village Hymns. ^^Ibid.
''It is by Nettleton's ascriptions of authorship that 7 of Strong's
hymns and 4 of Steward's, taken from The Hartford Selection, are
now identified.
''Worcester's blundering ascriptions are repeated in Village Hymns.
** "From Greenland's icy mountains" is included. It had appeared
in 1823 in the reprinted Christian Observer, and in The Missionary
Herald.
Zy6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
and the selections from Olney Hymns constitute one eighth
of the Village Hymns. There were also nearly a s:ore
from the Wesleys. The change from Watts had bee i so
long deferred in America that Nettleton was able to include
some writers of the modern school, notably Montgomery.
He sought too to bring forward American writers. Of
Abby B. Hyde's nine contributions, "Dear Saviour, if these
lambs should stray" is best remembered; of Phoebe Brown's
four, "I love to steal awhile away" became a great favorite.
Of that indefatigable hymn writer, William B. Tappan,
Nettleton inserted " 'Tis midnight, and on Olive's brow,"
but somehow missed "There is an hour of peaceful rest,"
printed in 1818, and destined to become equally popular.
Nettleton knew a good hymn when he saw it, and pro-
duced the brightest evangelical hymn book yet made in
America. Revival hymns he eschewed as at best ephemeral
and "unfit for the ordinary purposes of devotion — as
prescriptions, salutary in sickness, are laid aside on the
restoration of health. "^^ In the way of tunes he printed
before each hymn the names of one or more that were
suitable, and followed Nathan Strong's lead in providing
a tune book (Zion's Harp) with settings of the hymns in
"particular metres."
The soil was prepared for the new planting, and seven
editions of Village Hymns sprang up within three years.
Its variety and vivacity were a revelation to many accus-
tomed to more didactic strains and gave it a long popularity.
It served as a source book to numerous compilers, who
thus spread its hymns even more widely.
Nettleton lived to oppose the "new measures" and "New
School Theology" which Finney introduced in 1826 into
the revival in the Presbytery of Oneida, New York. But
with Finney's first coming to New York city, his supporter
Joshua Leavitt, late a Connecticut pastor, published on
March 6, 1830, the first number of a weekly. The Evan-
gelist, "to promote revivals of religion." In the number for
"Preface.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 377
October 2 he began to print specimen hymns and tunes of
a revival hymn book to be issued in monthly parts. The
first six parts appeared in April, 1831, as The Christian
Lyre. By Joshua Leavitt. Vol. I. New York: published
by Jonathan Leavitt: vol. II followed in October; and be-
fore the end of the year a Supplement, containing "more
than one hundred Psalm tunes, such as are most used in
churches of all denominations." In the six months between
the appearing of the first and second volumes, nine editions
of the first, of 2,000 copies each, had been sold,^^ and of
the whole, bound up together in 24mo, the eighteenth
edition appeared in 1833; the twenty-sixth in 1842.
"Every person conversant with revivals must have ob-
served," Leavitt said, "that wherever meetings for prayer
and conference assume a special interest, there is a desire
to use hymns and music of a different character from those
ordinarily heard in church."^** He thought Nettleton had
supplied "in a good degree" the church need, and he aimed
to supply the revival need with somewhat lighter and more
songlike hymns with rippling rhythms and sometimes
"chorusses." But the tunes which carried them were de-
signedly the feature of The Christian Lyre, printed as they
were in the book itself on the page opposite the words of
corresponding hymns.
By this time there had arisen a movement to reform
Church Music, of whose leaders Lowell Mason had Con-
gregationalist, and Thomas Hastings Presbyterian, affilia-
tions. They claimed not unnaturally that the neglected
condition of Congregational Song in the churches was due
to the ignorance and indifference of Christian people.^'"*
"Note prefixed to the Supplement. ^Preface.
""Go where we may into the place of worship . . . when the
singing commences . . . the congregation are either on the one hand
gazing at the select performers to admire the music, or on the other
expressing their dissatisfaction by general symptoms of restlessness.
. . . We observe everywhere the universal appearance of restlessness
or relaxation." Thos. Hastings in Biblical Repertory, July, 1829, pp.
414, 415-
378 THE ENGLISH HYMN
They set themselves the task of reforming it by lectures
and writings, by establishing singing schools for the young,
and singing classes for congregations, and by training
church choirs to be leaders of congregational singing. For
their use Hastings began in 1816 and Mason in 1822 the
publication of tune books, lengthening out with their lives
into a very extended series. Many of the tunes were their
own composition, Mason especially gauging and providing
for the average capacity and feeling with amazing fertility
and success. The tunes of these men were simple but
correct, and the cardinal principle of their voluminous ad-
dresses, their teaching and composition, was devoutness,
to which all else was subordinated. Their work had already
begun to tell upon the spirit and practice of congregational
singing, and their characteristic type of hymn tune was
becoming familiar and appreciated. ■*"
Leavitt was not the equal of these men in musical knowl-
edge,^^ nor one with them in method. He aimed at hearty
revival singing and the gathering of a brighter sort of tunes
than those in the oblong tune books of the Hastings and
Mason school. To secure swinging melodies he drew freely
upon the popular songs of the past and present and secured
new tunes more or less of kin. The result was, on a smaller
scale, very much like that of the more recent enterprise
of Moody and Sankey. A fresh impulse was given to sing-
ing both within and without the Church, and the new
hymns and tunes threatened to make their way into the
stated church services. Criticism and protest followed, and
it seemed to many that Leavitt had debased the coin of
the Kingdom. The church press^- and church authorities
*"For a bibliography of Mason to 1854 see The American Journal
of Education, Sept., 1857, p. 148: for a study of the careers of both
see F. L. Ritter, Music in America, New York, ed. 1895, pp. 165-181.
"He had to defend himself against the charge of ignorance of the
rudiments of musical grammar (The Evangelist for Sept. 3, 1830)
and to correct often the two-part music of early editions of his Lyre.
■•"The Christian Spectator welcomed the Lyre, especially commending
its employment of secular melodies (vol. iii, 1831, pp. 664-672).
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 379
were divided in opinion, and no interference followed
except from such action as was taken by parochial authority.
And some of Leavitt's tunes came in course of time to be
generally regarded as not incompatible with devoutness.
To Hastings and Mason it seemed that Leavitt and such
as he were threatening to undo all their work. "In these
enlightened days of reform" the public is called upon "to
recognize in the current love songs, the vulgar melodies of
the street, of the midnight reveller, of the circus and the
ballroom, the very strains which of all others, we are told,
are the best adapted to call forth pure and holy emotions,
in special seasons of revivall"^^ Mason had just published
for use in church service a full collection of psalms and
hymns as Church Psalmody (Boston and Philadelphia,
1831),^^ which was meeting with success. And now with
Hastings he began the publication in twelve numbers, of a
social hymn book, with the tunes printed in Leavitt's man-
ner, that should offset the evil influences of The Christian
Lyre. It appeared complete as Spiritual Songs for social
worship: adapted to the use of families and private circles
in seasons of revival, to missionary meetings, to the
monthly concert, and to other occasions of special interest.
JVords and music arranged by Thomas Hastings, of Utica,
and Lozvell Mason, of Boston (Utica, 1832).
This little book will always have a place in American
Hymnody, if only for its originals, which included Ray
Palmer's "My faith looks up to Thee," Samuel F. Smith's
"The morning light is breaking," and very many of Hast-
ings, including "Gently, Lord, O gently lead us," "Hail
to the brightness of Zion's glad morning," "How calm
and beautiful the morn," and "Return, O wand'rer, to thy
home."^^ But the book was also immediately successful.
"Preface to Spiritual Songs.
"Manual of Christian Psalmody (Boston and Philadelphia, 1832)
is a variant of this book for Baptist use.
"Some of these are in the ed. of 1833. Hastings became one of the
most voluminous American hymn writers. Many of his 600 hymns are
in his Devotional Hymns and religious Poems (N. Y., 1850).
38o THE ENGLISH HYMN
Its fresh Hymnody, its simple melodies, and the spirituality
of its atmosphere, fitted it to meet what its editors regarded
as an emergency, and its success helped to maintain a devout
tone in the less formal exercises of worship.
All of the hymn books just considered were private enter-
prises and without ecclesiastical sanction. But Congrega-
tional churches by their constitution, and Presbyterian
churches by declaration of the Assembly of 1806,^° were
quite free to introduce them not only into the prayer meet-
ing but into the church service. Many did so for the sake
of their warmer hymns or appealing tunes, only to find
the little books quite inadequate to meet the varied demands
of church use. Such use had however made the newer
Hymnody familiar in many congregations and increased the
demand for a corresponding enrichment of the authorized
Hymnody.
2. The Era of Compromise (1828-1857) : "Psalms and
Hymns"
(i) Presbyterian Psalms and Hymns (1831)
The Presbyterian Church had authorized nothing since
the allowance of Watts' Hymns and Dwight's rescension
of his Imitations, with its appendage of hymns, in 1802.
Mindful of the Psalmody Controversy and aware of con-
flicting opinions within its borders, it had never ventured
to make a praise book of its own. But in 18 19 a proposal
to do so reached the Assembly. ^^ The Assembly of the
year following decided that it might proceed "without
offending any of our churches," and appointed a committee
to prepare a compilation of Psalms and "a copious collec-
tion of hymns and spiritual songs from various authors,
giving the preference to those now authorized [i. e. Watts'
Hymns] so far as good taste, sound sense, and enlightened
piety admit."**^ After years of wrestling with the delicacies
**Minutes of General Assembly, 1789-1820, Phila., n. d., p. 360.
"Ibid., p. 716. ^'Ibid.. p. 740.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 381
of the situation, its report and papers were put into the
hands of a committee for revision and publication i^^ Dr.
Archibald Alexander being the working member of both
committees.
Its book was printed at Princeton by William M'Hart
in two parts; the first in 1828 as Psalms adapted to flic
public worship of the Christian Church, the second in 1829
as Hymns adapted to the public worship of fJie Christian
Church, ^^^ bound up in mottled sheep, lettered "Psalms and
Hymns," and presented to the Assembly of 1829, who
declined it as it stood, "'^^ recommitting it for "some necessary
improvements and corrections."^^
These being made the book was accepted in 1830,^^ though
not without opposition, and published as Psalms and Hymns
adapted to public worship, and approved by the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Cliurch in the United States
of America. Philadelphia: publisJied for the General
Assembly, by Solomon Allen. 18^1. The 490 Hymns of
1829 have become 531, with some altered texts; otherwise
the books are the same. Dr. Alexander's preface of 1829
reveals his guiding principles: ist, the unsurpassed excel-
lence of Watts' Hymns, and the predilection for them of
the majority of serious worshippers; 2nd, a sharp dis-
crimination between hymns that are or are not suitable for
public worship.
The collection is of the "Watts' and select" type, opening
with a solid body of 199 of his hymns that make two fifths
of the whole. In the remainder some seventy authors can
be traced, including 12 by Charles Wesley and 2y from
Olney Hymns, but the school and manner and monotonous
**Minutes, 1821-1837, Phila., n. d., p. 237.
""It would be interesting to know Dr. Alexander's reason for thus
avoiding the denominational name.
"The Assembly of 1831 was puzzled what to do about and with this
repudiated Princeton edition (Minutes, p. 306). Some copies were
long used in a Philadelphia colored congregation.
^''Minutes, p. 272.
"Ibid., p. 306.
382 THE ENGLISH HYMN
metres of Watts so predominate as to produce an atmos-
phere even then old-fashioned. Dr. Alexander had taken
pains to gather a large collection of hymns, and those
excluded by his canons of church worship he proceeded to
publish as A Selection of Hymns, adapted to the devotions
of the closet, the family, and the social circle . . . monthly
concerts of prayer for the success of missions and Sun-
day schools; and other special occasions (New York:
Jonathan Leavitt, 1831), of which three editions were
called for.
It would have been better if the process had been re-
versed: if "the majority of serious worshippers" had been
left to the enjoyment of Watts' Hymns without unwelcome
omissions, and Dr. Alexander's brighter and more varied
selection had been authorized for use by those in full sym-
pathy with the newer Hymnody. As it was the Psalms
and Hymns of 183 1 satisfied neither element in the church;
and never came into anything like general use.^'^ It was
the only hymn book made by the undivided Church, and
after the split of 1837 commended itself to neither
"school."^^
(2) Old School Psalms and Hymns (1843)
The initial Old School Assembly in 1838 took steps for
its revision, laboriously accomplished by a committee whose
proposed book aroused in the Assembly of 1842 "a most
"The reports of the Publishing Agent, so far as given, show an
edition of 24,000 in 1831, one of some 8000 in 1832, one of some 4500
in 1835, and one of 5000 in 1837. Minutes of Gen. Ass., v. d. The
communicants in 1831 were 182,017.
"^ "The want of some improvement in the existing Psalmody, and
particularly of an enlarged and arranged collection of Hymns . . . has
for a considerable time been felt and acknowledged." Preface to
Psalms and Hymns, 1843. This "felt want," as expressed by numerous
correspondents of The Presbyterian, was quaintly regarded (outside)
as an argument for the exclusive use of Psalms in two articles on
"Psalmody of the Presbyterian Church" in The Religious Monitor for
April and May, 1840.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 383
violent though happily a very limited opposition. "^^ The
book was sent back for some amendment and then publica-
tion, appearing as Psahns and Hymns adapted to social,
private, and public worship in the Presbyterian Church in
the United States of America. Approved and authorised
by the General Assembly. Philadelphia: Presbyterian
Board of Publication. 184^. Of the 531 hymns of 183 1,
419 were retained, and 261 were added, a total of 680. It
served the Old School body, not wholly to its advantage,
for some twenty-five years; provided with tunes in Hast-
ings' The Presbyterian Psalmodist (1852), supplemented
by The Presbyterian Social Psalmodist (1857) for the
lecture room. Hymns for Youth (1848) and Nezv Hymns
for Youth (1855) fo'" the Sunday school. The circulation
of the Psalms and Hymns of 1843 during the period of
its use reached the amazing total of 888,650 copies^" in a
denomination having only 159,137 communicants at the
date of its publication.
(3) New School Psalms and Hymns (1843)
The New School Presbyterians naturally included the
sympathizers with the "new measures" and "new theology"
of the Oneida Revival of 1826. They were as a body of
more independent spirit than the Old School, and more
jealous of a centralized church control. In New York
State and the Northwestern states fully one half of their
congregations had declined the authorized Psalms and
Hymns, and were, before the division, using Worcester's
Watts' and select, Church Psalmody, or one of the hymn
books born of the revival spirit. ^^ One of the leaders both
'" "The New Hymn Book" in Spirit of the XIX. Century for Dec,
1842. The heated proceedings may be followed in the Minutes and in
an account in The Presbyterian for June 4, 1842. For a precise
"Documentary History" of the revision see Spirit of XIX. Century
for Nov. 1843. The satisfaction that psalm singers took in the debate
is frankly expressed in The true Psalmody, Phila., 1859, pp. 157, 158.
"Ms. records of The Board of Publication.
'"C/. an undated pamphlet, Review of a pamphlet entitled "Th"
Church Psalmist," p. 5.
384 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of the Revival and the new denomination, Dr. Beman of
Troy, had already published Sacred Lyrics: or select
Hymns, particularly adapted to revivals of religion, and
intended as a Supplement to Watts. By Nathan S. S.
Beman. Troy: N. Tut tie, printer, 22^ River-street, 18^2:
and he proceeded to publish a much larger collection for
church use as Sacred Lyrics, or Psalms and Hymns adapted
to public zvorship. Selected by Nathan S. S. Beman. Troy,
N. v.: published by A. Kidder, 1841.
The General Assembly of 1840 had authorized an ad
interim committee to procure "an edition of Psalms and
Hymns" for general use without expense to the Assembly. ^'^
They, under arrangement with Dr. Beman and his publisher,
adopted his Sacred Lyrics with some required changes, and
published it as Church Psalmist; or Psalms and Hymns,
for the public, social, and private use of evangelical Chris-
tians. New York: Mark H. Nezvman, ipp Broadway.
1843.^^ It was accepted and recommended to the churches
without opposition.*'^ Beman's book had originally been
prepared as a competitor of Worcester's Watts' and select,
aiming to omit the more didactic parts of Watts and to
improve the lyrical standard of hymns.
A more formidable rival appeared from the hands of a
group of clergymen who in connection with a Philadelphia
publisher, had taken up the hymn book question independ-
ently. They first published for use in "evening meetings"
Parish Hymns for public, social, and private worship
(Philadelphia: Perkins & Purves, 1843); and then an
extensive collection for church use. Parish Psalmody. A
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for public worship (Phila-
delphia : Perkins and Purves, 1844). This contained "Dr.
Watts's versification of the Psalms of David, entire," 200
^"Minutes (of the New School Branch), 1838-1858, reprinted Phila.,
1894, pp. 99, 104.
'"Beman also issued the Hymns separately, as Social Psalmist (N.
Y., Mark H. Newman, 1843).
"^Ihid., pp. 128, 129.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 385
of his hymns and nearly 500 other hymns. It appealed
to those who resented Dr. Beman's treatment of Watts
and resented yet more his undoubted lobbying in the in-
terests of a book which was his copyright property. Both
books were edited by Seth Collins Brace, just licensed by
Wilmington Presbytery, later a Congregationalist.*'- He
wrote hymns for it and secured original contributions from
Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, Ray Palmer and Dr. George
W. Bethune.
An open war followed the appearance of Parish
Psalmody. Fourteen Philadelphia churches, and many
beyond, adopted it, numerous Presbyteries and two Synods
commended it, and an array of pastoral recommendations
was obtained. *^^ Dr. Beman appeared before the Assembly
of 1846 in the interests of uniformity of Praise, and secured
a renewed recommendation of the Church Psalmist.^^ In
the ensuing pamphlet controversy the publishers of Parish
Psalmody had the best of it, but in the end Dr. Beman
prevailed. In 1857 the Publication Committee purchased
the book outright, and the large Supplement of "such
hymns as may be necessary to make the work complete "
then arranged for seems to have been intended to conciliate
the opponents of the Church Psalmist. ^^
Thenceforward the Church Psalmist was more generally
regarded as the official praise book of the New School
body, and a selection of its hymns for prayer meetings
was published in 1865 as Social Hymn and Tune Book for
the lecture room &c. Even so uniformity was not secured.
A special report by Dr. Beman to the Assembly of 1863
regretfully announced that some fifteen hymn books beside
his own were "in use in our churches. "^^
"'S. W. Duffield, English Hymns: their authors and history, 2nd
ed., Funk and Wagnalls, 1886, p. 359.
"'See the Review of a pamphlet, pp. 44-58.
'*Minuies, 1838-1858, p. 154. For the debate see Review of a pam-
phlet, pp. 14, 15.
"''Minutes, p. 580.
"■^Special Report, Phila. [1863], p. 14.
386 THE ENGLISH HYMN
(4) Presbyterian Hymnody in the '40s
A modern hymnologist has somewhat misapprehended
the actual conditions of Presbyterian Hymnody in this
period, in saying, —
"The Presbyterian body has always included a large proportion of
the intelligence, culture and learning in these United States ; and yet
it long sat contented under the weight of those marvels of decorous
dullness, the 'Psalms and Hymns' of 1843, and the 'Church Psalmist'
of 1847 (sic). Short of vulgarity and eccentricity, it would not be
easy to find two more painful compilations; but they have been super-
seded only within the last twenty years or so." "
This criticism fails to take any account of the independ-
ence of New School churches and their use of other books.
But doubtless these two and Parish Psalmody represent
the general state of Presbyterian Hymnody in the '40s.
The waves of revival that had quickened congregational
singing had spent their force ; the little hymn books of the
revival time had lived their day; and there was a tendency
to fall back upon "Watts' and select."*'^ But even so the
three books represent not what the people cared to sing,
but what their pastors thought good for them.
It was the clergy who made and used these ponderous
compilations of Psalms and Hymns. The books were
ponderous because the leaders of the Church were still
under the weight of the Metrical Psalmody tradition,^**
"Rev. Fred. M. Bird in The Churchman, August 3, 1889.
*'C/. M. J. Hickok, pastor of Washington St. Church, Rochester, in
Review of a pamphlet (p. 57) :— "We had tried several experiments.
. . . The Village Hymns, linked with so many pleasant memories to
all the natives of New England, were found to be so far behind the
age, that their sweet savor of revivals, and early Christian experience,
could not redeem them from neglect. We obtained the Sacred Songs,
but a short experience convinced us that they were far too limited in
their range, for all the purposes of devotion." He proceeds to narrate
his adoption of Parish Hymns and his hope of introducing the larger
Parish Psalmody.
°* "This General Assembly . . . totally disapprove of those books
of Psalmody which, in their arrangement, blot out the distinction
between those songs of devotion which are God-inspired and those
which are man-inspired." N. S. Assembly, 1863 : Minutes (of the
N. S. branch), vol. ii, Philadelphia, 1894, p. 234.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 387
and the older generation wished to retain a large body of
Watts' Hymns, while joining the younger in demanding
an ample representation of the newer Hymnody. The
books were didactic because the concern of the clergy was
mainly for the doctrinal aspects of hymns,'^" and practically
all the clergy used them to enforce the points of their
sermons;'^ and being thus didactic were dull but not so
dull as Mr. Bird thinks ; brightened rather with many choice
hymns of the Evangelical Revival and of later time, which
the Church still likes to sing.
It would, however, be more true to say that "the Presby-
terian body" sat unconcerned than that it "sat contented"
under these ponderous books. With the hymn books not
only dull but misapprehended and misused in the pulpit,
and the constantly changing tune books confined entirely
to the choir loft, the congregations had fallen into the habit
of leaving the choir to do all the singing.'- And the pre-
dominant movement for the "improvement of Psalmody"
was that for supplanting the simple melodies of the Lowell
Mason school by sacred quartets in that parlor-music type
™This appears in the discussions of the time. In Review of a
pamphlet, for instance, the Church Psalmist is charged with sup-
pressing "native depravity" (p. 2y) and with a scarcity of allusions to
the "eternity of punishment" (pp. 29, 30). Among the grounds for
recommending Parish Psalmody, one synod, three presbyteries, two
pastoral associations and twelve divines specify its inclusion of the
Confession of Faith and Catechism (pp. 44 ff.).
" "It is now a rare thing, in some of our congregations, to be invited
to unite in a single Psalm or hymn that is distinctively one of praise.
If the preacher design to discourse to us upon some point of doc-
trinal theology, or to present us with some peculiar phase of religious
experience, or to exhort the impenitent ... he seeks in all his psalm-
ody to enforce his teachings." Henry Darling, "Worship as an Element
of Sanctuary Service," Pres. Quar. Rev., April, 1862, and separately,
p. 20.
"A writer on "Church Music" in The Princeton Review for Jan.
1843 (the year of the Old School Assembly's Psalms and Hymns),
describes congregational singing as neither general nor devout in
churches having a precentor (p. 89), and as "how often" non-existent
in churches having a choir (p. 91).
388 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of choir tunes for which Henry W. Greatorex was
sponsor.
li the authorized Presbyterian Hymnody thus looked
backward in its devotion to metrical Psalmody and to Watts,
both the Old School and New School collections neverthe-
less marked an advance in the appropriation of the newer
Hymnody. Dr. Beman certainly would have been cha-
grined to foresee his Church Psalmist coupled with the
Old School Psalms and Hymns of 1843, under a common
charge of "decorous dulness." In intention, to say the
least, he belonged with the literary movement already begun
elsewhere, and aimed to get away from the didactic type
of hymn and to cement an alliance between Lyrical Poetry
and Presbyterian Hymnody.
(5) CONGREGATIONALIST PsALMS AND HyMNS
(1836-1845)
It is quite certain that the Congregationalist Hymnody
of the time was not in advance of the Presbyterian, and
that it was of no greater interest to the people. At the
close of the extended tour of the churches made by the
British deputies, Dr. Reed reported that
"The singing generally, and universally with the Congregationalists,
is not congregational. It is a performance entrusted to a band of
singers, more or less skilful. . . . You have the sense of being a spec-
tator and auditor; not of a participant; and this is destructive of the
spirit of devotion." "
In the way of hymn books some churches adopted Hast-
ings and Patton's The Christian Psalmist (New York,
1836), which appears on the title page as another "Watts'
and select." More were using Mason and Greene's Church
Psalmody, a compilation of no less than 454 psalms and
"A. Reed and J. Matheson, A narrative of the visit to the American
churches by the deputation from the Congregational Union of Eng-
land and Wales, New York, 1835, vol. ii, pp. 82, 83. As to the con-
tinuance of the same conditions through the '40s, see F. A. Adams,
"Congregational Singing," in The Nczu Englandcr, February, 1849.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMI<:RICA 389
731 hymns, of which 421 are from Watts. Mason's book
was approved by the Pastoral Association of Massachu-
setts'^ for its rich additions to Hymnody, but its professed
disregard of the authors' texts, its excisions and alterations
in the supposed interests of music, should have put it beyond
the bounds of their tolerance. The great dependence was
on the cumbrous Worcester's Watts' and select, which, said
Charles Beecher, even as late as 1863, ''still weighs down
the psalmody of some antediluvian districts like a night-
mare."^^
In Connecticut the proposal of 1820 for a new hymn
book was not taken up. In 1833 Dr. Bacon issued Addi-
tional Hymns to be bound up with "Dwight's Watts" still
in general use ; and eventually Dwight was superseded by
Psalms and Hymns, for Christian use and zvorship; pre-
pared and set forth by the General Association of Con-
necticut. New Haven: Dnrrie and Peck. 1845. This book
was among the largest; containing 1203 numbers. The
hymns, numbering 705, were also set forth separately as
Chapel Hymns. They are in the main the standard Evan-
gelical Hymns, with a preponderance of Watts, whose con-
tributions constitute five-twelfths of the whole. But some
seventy hymns were taken from English collections new
in this country, and for it Leonard Bacon recast his "O
God, beneath Thy guiding hand," and wrote four other
hymns.'® The new hymn book had thus a progressive as
well as a conservative side. It fitly closed the compromise
period of "Psalms and Hymns," and carried the Connecticut
churches up to the time when the tunes were put into the
hands of the people, and real progress in congregational
singing was thus made possible.
'*See Ne-dJ England Puritan, Nov. i8, 1841.
'''Autobiography of Lyman Beecher, New York, ed. 1865, vol. ii,
p. 150.
'''Dr. Bacon was chairman of the committee on the new hymn book.
While it was preparing the Revs. Horace Hooker and Oliver E.
Daggett gave their whole time to its editing. Daggett has an account
of "The New Hymn Book" in The New Englandcr for July, 1846.
390 THE ENGLISH HYMN
IV
HYMN SINGING IN THE PROTESTANT EPIS-
COPAL CHURCH
I. The Beginning of Hymn Singing (1786)
The Church of England congregations in the American
colonies imported their prayer books, and sang the metrical
psalms bound in at the end, whether Sternhold and Hopkins'
Old Version or Tate and Brady's Nciv Version. In some
parishes no doubt before the Revolution an occasional hymn
was given out from the Supplement to the New Version
or some other source.
The first step toward forming these congregations into
a Protestant Episcopal Church was taken in 1784. In
September of the following year a convention representing
seven states met in Christ Church, Philadelphia, and applied
themselves to making necessary changes in the Prayer Book
and proposing improvements of the service and statements
of doctrine.'^ The embodiment of these alterations was
left to Drs. William White, afterward bishop, William
Smith and C, H. Wharton ;'^^ who issued The Book of
Common Prayer . . . as revised and proposed to the use
of the Protestant Episcopal Church at a convention of the
said Church . . . (Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers, 1786).
The preface to this "Proposed Book" cites both as a
warrant and platform certain proposals for revision in
William and Mary's time (1689) that included the addition
of hymns and anthems from the Prophets and the New
Testament to the metrical psalms, the better to provide
for the heads and occasions of Christian worship.'^^ In
accord with which, the preface goes on to say: —
"A selection is made of the . . . singing Psalms . . . and a collec-
"Cf. William White, Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
2nd ed.. New York, 1836, pp. 21-23.
"Wm. Stevens Perry, Journals of the General Conventions, Clare-
mont, N. H., 1874, vol. i, p. 28.
"Preface, pp. [7, 8].
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 391
tion of hymns are added, upon those evangelical subjects and other
heads of christian worship, to which the psalms of David are less
adapted, or do not generally extend." ""
The selection thus offered in Hen of the complete Psalter
is numbered I-LXXXIV, arranged in groups under gen-
eral heads; and followed by a group of fifty-one hymns,
introduced by this rubric : —
"HHymns suited to the Feasts and Fasts of the CHURCH, and other
Occasions of public Worship; to be used at the discretion of the
Minister."
These proposals invite attention ; for, while the Proposed
Book never was ratified, its provision for Congregational
Praise passed substantially into the church constitution and
has determined its practice till the present day. The pro-
posals had really no precedent in those of 1689, which con-
templated nothing more than the addition of other Bible
Songs to the Psalms. And they had no precedent in the
contemporaneous movements to introduce hytnns into the
Church of England. The English movements were private
enterprises; for even the singing of metrical psalms had
never secured ecclesiastical recognition as a part of the
Prayer Book system of worship. The American proposals
gave the singing of psalms and hymns the status of a
church ordinance; and in the Proposed Book as printed
they appear as an integral part of the book itself, followed
by the rubric, "End of the Prayer Book."^^
Of these related proposals the more significant is that
for singing hymns. It brought about what Bishop White
^"Ibid., p. [13].
"Dr. Smith wrote Dr. White (30 Jan. 1786), basing the Com-
mittee's right to introduce hymns on the ground of their being only
a "Supplement," and that neither Psalms nor Supplement "are more
than an Exercise of our best Discretion in the Work committed to
us, and not an essential Part of our reformed Liturgy." (Journals,
vol. iii, p. 155). Dr. White replied (Feb. i) : "In ye old Book [the
Psalms] were no Part of ye common Prayer, but were only used by ye
Royal Permission ; with us, as I conceive, they are to be part of ye
Liturgy" (p. 157). In this judgment (which he afterward reversed)
he seems to include the hymns.
392 THE ENGLISH HYMN
called "a most remarkable change," by which the psalm
singing Church of his youth became the hymn singing
Church of his maturity.^^ In some other communions such
a change was regarded as revolutionary and accomplished
with distress. And it is interesting to inquire how it hap-
pened without any disturbance.
The explanation lies in the fact that the change was
effected not in open convention nor in committee-room,
but through correspondence between two men; one of
whom, William Smith, was determined to introduce hymn
singing into the new Church.
In reading the passages dealing with this matter in the
Proposed Book's preface, as already quoted, we seem to
be listening to the united voice of the delegates from seven
States proposing an innovation. In reality the preface was
not prepared in convention, but by Dr. Smith himself.^^
The suggestion that hymns be added to the psalms does
not appear to have been proposed, much less debated, in
the Convention of 1785, whose only action in the premises
was that the Committee to prepare the book
"Be authorized to publish, with the Book of Common Prayer, such
of the reading and singing Psalms, and such a Kalendar of proper
lessons for the different Sundays and Holy-days throughout the year,
as they may think proper." **
But within a few days after adjournment Dr. Smith
proposes to his colleague Dr. White that there be added to
the metrical psalms "some of Watts' best Psalms, and
Hymns for the Festivals and other Occasions," expressing
a hope that "some may be offered by Members of our own
Church in America, who are distinguished for their Poetical
Talents."^^ It was Dr. Smith who selected all the hymns,
forwarding them to Dr. White, with the plea that "multi-
tudes of our most serious and religious members" would
favor their introduction, and adding with Scottish prudence
*^See his note NN in Memoirs already referred to.
^^Joxirnals, vol. iii, p. 148, and see p. 200. ^*Ibid., vol. i, p. 28.
"Letter of "October, 1785"; Journals, vol. iii, p. 127.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AM1-:RICA 393
that they would help to sell the forthcoming book. He
assured Dr. White that all the hymns, except a few from
Watts, had "long been in Use in the Church" in the Supple-
ment to Tate and Brady or collections of religious societies;
and as for Watts' "you know Dr. Johnson gives them a
high name."^^
Dr. White's share in the project went no further than
a verbal criticism and a final approval of the hymns laid
before him. He did indeed, with the support of Erancis
Hopkinson, then widely regarded as a specialist in
Psalmody, venture an objection against including certain
extracts from metrical psalms among the hymns. Dr.
Smith replied :
"I pay great Regard to the Judgment of Mr. Hopkinson," but "some
Dependence on my own Judgment also, and should be happy if you
and the other Gentlemen could agree to have the Specimen of Hymns
offered to the public with as few deviations as possible from the Plan
which upon great Deliberation I have submitted to you, and Dr.
Wharton, if he can be consulted." "
"I give up," Dr. White said, "my sentiment respecting
ye hymnifying ye Psalms."^^ The introduction of hymns
did not in fact personally appeal to him. He had accepted
Dr. Smith's representations that the churches demanded
and should have some hymns, though aware that the com-
mittee were "extending their powers pretty far."^'' But
personally he was a confirmed psalm singer, and gained the
repute of never, unless at Christmas, having given out a
hymn at Christ Church to the end of his life.'^*^ His real
concern in 1786 as in 1826 was to keep down the number
of authorized hymns to the lowest point practicable. °^
"Jan. 23, 1786, Ibid., vol. iii, pp. i5i-iS3- "Ibid., p. 164.
"'Ibid., p. 167. ^"Memoirs of the P. E. Church, p. io8.
""Cf. H. W. Smith, Life and Correspondence of the Rev. William
Smith, D.D., Phila., 1880, vol. ii, p. 221, note. This is not incon-
sistent with his fondness for certain hymns as sacred poetry, and his
wish to have them read in his last hours. See J. H. Ward, Life and
Times of Bishop White, N. Y., 1892, pp. 171, 172.
"■•See his Memoirs of the P. E. Church, p. 257, and the document
at p. 384.
394 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Dr. Smith himself had no love for the "Methodists" in
the Church of England who were introducing evangelical
hymn books into extra-parochial services. But he had
watched the spread of Wesleyan Methodism in Maryland,
and wrote Dr. White that "the Methodists captivate many
by their attention to Church Music, and by their Hymns
and Doxologies, which when rationally and devoutly intro-
duced are sublime Parts of public and private worship. "^^
His own collection, though larger than at first intended,^^
is hardly more than a supplement to the Psalter, such as
the more progressive psalm singers in the Church of Eng-
land favored. Indeed the Supplement to the New Version
furnished 7 of the 51 hymns, and the Hymns, Anthems
and Tunes used at the Magdalen ChapeP^ furnished no less
than 14, if we include its 4 by Addison, which Dr. Smith
already knew in The Spectator. ^^ But Watts, with 12
numbers, had the largest representation of any single
author.^^ The only American contributions were psalms
adapted to July 4th and "the first Thursday of November"
by Francis Hopkinson,"^ who also arranged the "half-
sheet" of engraved tunes appended at a cost alarming to
Dr. White. ''^ The Hymns of 1786 represent no dogmatic
basis, but simply a desire to cover New Testament occasions
with New Testament hymns.
The Proposed Book made few friends and had a very
limited use.^'' Its failure being assured, the main duty of
"""Journals, vol. iii, p. 151. ^^Ihid., p. 151.
"From this source "Hark, my gay friend, that solemn toll" was
chosen, and Bishop Ken's three hymns were left.
'^Journals, vol. iii, p. 152.
"Dr. Smith's remark that "even some of Watts's are not new in
our Church," creates the impression that some of the parishes had
employed his Psalms and Hymns before the Revolution.
"'Journals, vol. iii, pp. 167, 177. "'Ibid., p. 162.
"°Dr. Smith speaks of the pleasure his Maryland congregations took
in the Good Friday and Easter Hymns, hut especially in two Com-
munion Hymns as adding "a Solemnity which they confess'd they had
not experienc'd before." "Have you yet introduced them in this way?"
he asks Dr. White. Journals, i, 19-).
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 395
the Convention of 1789, now sitting as two houses, was
to prepare and adopt a prayer book. The new book was
ratified in October i6th of that year, appearing as The
Book of Common Prayer . . . according to the use of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of
America (Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers, 1790).
The Bishops took the initiative in "the form and manner
of setting forth the Psalms in metre, "^*"^ and raised no
question as to the inclusion of some hymns. They appeared
in the Prayer Book of 1790 with a separate title-page, as
The whole Book of Psalms, in metre; with Hymns, suited
to the feasts and fasts of the Church, and other occasions
of public ivorship (Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers). This
title is meant to emphasize the return to a complete
Psalter.^^^ Such return was contrary to Bishop White's
taste. He favored discrimination in using the Psalms in
Christian worship, ^"^ but had become convinced that no
selection could satisfy everybody. ^"^
But in dealing with Dr. Smith's "Supplement of Hymns"
he found his opportunity. The House of Bishops in 1789
was only Seabury and himself, and by dropping the "hymni-
fied Psalms" he had objected to in 1786, by curtailing the
provision for feasts and fasts, and by omitting "Hark ! my
gay friend," he reduced the hymns from the 51 of the
Proposed Book to the 27 of 1790. The hymns were still
of Dr. Smith's selection, and indeed suffered little from
curtailment by the bishop.
The ratification of this book set the Church's seal upon
Dr. Smith's original proposal of hymn singing as a church
ordinance. These 27 hymns are "set forth, and allowed to
be sung in all congregations . . . before and after Morning
and Evening Prayer; and also before and after Sermons,
^'^ Journals, vol. i, p. 119. See p. in.
'"'The title is misleading. The whole Bookc of Psalmes collected
into English mcetrc had been the title of the Old Version since 1562,
but the Psalter here set forth was the New Version of Tate and Brady.
'"-Memoirs of P. E. Church, p. 108. ""Ibid., pp. 384, 385.
396 THE ENGLISH HYMN
at the discretion of the Minister. "^"^^ This assumed the
Convention's prerogative of selecting specific Psalm versions
and hymns for use, and seemed to carry the implication that
parishes were to be confined to them. And such has been
the more general interpretation of the situation till now.^"*^
The attitude thus assumed was in sharp contrast to what
Bishop White called the "unbounded license" that grew
up under the peculiar tenure of Psalmody in the Church of
England; a freedom that entailed some disadvantages but
proved a golden opportunity for the development of Eng-
lish Hymnody.
The separate title page to the Psalms and Hymns in 1790
was presumably to distinguish them from the Prayer Book
proper, though the colophon, "End of the Prayer Book,"
still followed the Hymns. In 1791 this became simply
"The End" ; and the distinction between Prayer Book and
Psalms, &c. bound in was settled by Convention in 1820.^°^
This distinction was practically important, because it left
the Hymnody open to improvement, without arousing the
strong feelings involved in Prayer Book revision.
2. The Evangelical Period (1789-1858)
To those wishing to use hymns the diminutive allowance
of 1789 was no more than a thin wedge inserted in a
fissure of the ancient Psalmody, and pressure began at once
with a view of widening the aperture. The vestry of Trinity
Church, Boston, impatient of the contrast of the Church's
provision with the rich abundance of Jeremy Belknap's
Sacred Poetry used by their neighbors, decided not to wait
upon the General Convention for relief, and issued on their
own account Hymns selected from the most approved
'"^Certificate on verso of title page, 1790. Bishop White's hand
appears in the accompanying provision that the minister shall control
the tunes and suppress "all light and unseemly music." Cf. his
Thoughts on the singing of Psalms and Anthems, 1808.
'""Such authority has been questioned by S. D. McConnell, History of
the American Episcopal Church, Phila., ed. 1897, pp. 271, 272.
''""Journals, vol. i, pp. 557, 558: White, Memoirs, p. 45.
EVANGELICAL HYJMNODY IN AMERICA 397
authors, for the ksc of Trinity Church, Boston (Boston,
1808). ^'^" It had 152 hymns, the first 27 being those of
1789. Its devotion to Anne Steele, evidenced by the inclu-
sion of 57 of her hymns, has already been noted. With
these may be grouped 23 of Watts and 10 of Doddridge
as representing the Evangelical side of Hymnody. In con-
trast are 18 from recent collections of English Arians, and
3 of the Swedenborgian Joseph Proud. This motley com-
plexion of the book is no more than a reflection of Belk-
nap's, from whose collection the hymns were taken. ^"^^
The Maryland Convention proceeded in a more orderly
way by instructing its deputies to the General Convention
of 1808 "to enforce the necessity of adopting an additional
number of hymns. "^^'^ Thirty additional hymns were
allowed, but with the rider of an annexed rubric requiring
that a portion of the Psalms in metre "be sung at every
celebration of divine service."^^" Of the new hymns, 25
out of 30 came from English Independent sources. The
whole collection of 57 hymns thus allowed included 14 by
Watts, 9 by Doddridge, 10 by Steele, 2 by Charles Wesley
and I by Beddome, and must be regarded as bearing the
clear marks of the Evangelical Hymnody.
It was indeed in Maryland and Virginia that the influence
of the Evangelical Revival had first made itself felt in
the Episcopal Church ; and through the first third of the
XlXth century there was an ever-enlarging body of clergy
holding the evangelical theology and putting the emphasis
on personal experience.^ ^^ The new views and feelings,
"" "The necessity of a larger collection was generally felt, and at
length the vestry authorized the present publication." Preface, p. 4.
'"* "In this selection, we are chiefly indebted to Dr. Belknap, whose
book unquestionably contains the best specimens of sacred poetry
extant." Preface, p. 4.
^""Journals, vol. i, p. 341.
""The rubric, as printed below the Hymns, made psalm singing
compulsory not at every service, but whenever hymns are sung at
any service.
"'C/. Wm. Stevens Perry, The History of the American Episcopal
Chtirch, Boston, 1885, vol. ii, pp. 192, 193.
398 THE ENGLISH HYMN
here as at Olney long before, expressed themselves in paro-
chial prayer meetings. And here as everywhere the evan-
gelical fervor called for new hymns. This need was largely
met by the extended circulation of a book prepared by an
Evangelical leader, J. P. K. Henshaw, for a women's prayer-
circle in his Brooklyn parish of St. Ann's, and published
as A Selection of Hymns, for the use of social religious
meetings, and for private devotions (Brooklyn, 1817).^^^
Its tone is that of the Evangelical Revival : it contains more
than fifty Olney Hymns, many of the standard hymns of
Christian experience, and a few American revival hymns
"with chorus."
Henshaw's ample provision for prayer meetings did noth-
ing to satisfy the wide-spread desire^'"' for an enlarged
Hymnody for the Sunday services. The relief of the situa-
tion became the personal concern of a remarkable man,
William A. Muhlenberg, then a rector at Lancaster. He
began with A Plea for Christian Hymns, addressed to a
friend in the General Convention of 1821.^^^ No result
following, he prepared his own collection of psalms and
hymns, and published it as Church Poetry: being portions
of the Psalms in verse, and Hymns suited to the festivals
and fasts, and various occasions of the Church. Selected
and arranged from various authors. By Wm. Augustus
""2nd ed., 1820; 4th, 1824; 5th, 1832; afterward, without date.
Wm. Croswell of Boston, attending a General Convention at Phila-
delphia in Sept., 1838, writes from the "conference rooms" of St.
Andrew's Church : "The place in which I write is a queer one. On
the desks and seats about me, the principal book is 'Henshaw's Collec-
tion of Revival Hymns,' while the Prayer Books are very scarce.
There is one on the desk, the only one, I believe, in the room. 'Jesus
I know, and Paul I know, but who' is Henshaw, that his Collections
should supersede the Collects?" Memoir of the late IVilliam Croswell,
D.D. By his Father: New York, 1853, p. 214.
'"Bird Wilson, Memoir of IVilliam White, D.D., Philadelphia, 1839,
p. 142.
"*Anne Ayres, The Life and Work of Wm. Augustus Muhlenberg,
New York, 1880, p. 62. The paper is reprinted in Evangelical Catholic
Papers, second series, St. Johnland, 1877, pp. 11-36.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 399
MnJilcnhcrg, associate rector of St. James's Church,
Lancaster. Philadelphia: published by S. Potter and Co.
182^. The book ranges with the contemporaneous series
of "Psalms and Hymns" appearing on the EvangeHcal side
of the Church of England, and is especially indebted to the
18 1 9 edition of Cotterill's Selection,^^^ whose freedom in
altering texts Muhlenberg admired and extended.
Muhlenberg at once put his Church Poetry into use in
his own congregation; a course in which he was followed
by a number of rectors in various places. ^^*' Within six
months of its publication the General Convention of 1823
appointed a committee on the enlargement of the Psalms
and Hymns, of which Dr. Muhlenberg was a member.^ ^"
The committee was presumably ill-prepared for its task,
which was wholly neglected^^'^ until in the summer of 1826
Dr. Muhlenberg, with the assistance of Dr. H. U. Onder-
donk of Brooklyn, prepared and put through a collection
of hymns,^^^ which was approved by the General Conven-
tion in November of that year^^
The new hymns and those already in use were amalga-
mated and published as Hymns of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, in the United States of America. Set forth in
General Com'cntion of said Church, in the years of our
Lord, 1789, 1808, and 1826. Philadelphia: published by
S. F. Bradford. 182/.^^^ This collection of 212 hymns
'"See chap, vii, part IV, section 4.
""Ayres, Life, &c., p. 63.
"^Journals, vol. ii, pp. 19, 69.
"^Bishop White's disapproval of enlargement, expressed in his
Thoughts on the proposal of alterations in the Book of Psalms in
metre, and in the Hymns, now before a committee of the General
Convention: by a member of the committee (see his Memoirs, &c.,
pp. 384-387), no doubt created a serious embarrassment.
""For Dr. Muhlenberg's own account of its preparation, see Ayres'
Life, &c., pp. 84-86.
^^Jotirnals, vol. ii, pp. 174, 191.
'■'His i6mo ed. of that year, with the Committee's certificate dated
April ID, 1827, is "the standard edition" ordered by General Conven-
tion : his 8vo ed. of that year is dated May 5th.
400 THE ENGLISH HYMN
was an excellent one for its time. To say that English
XVIIIth century Dissent furnished a majority of the
hymns, with Watts, Doddridge, Steele and Charles Wesley
leading, is merely to say that it bore the marks of its time.
Numerous other writers, older and newer, were also repre-
sented. The tone of the book was decidedly evangelical,
and quite colorless in ecclesiastical and sacramental direc-
tions. A recent historian, writing of "The Catholic Renais-
sance," is surely mistaken in saying that its continued use
infused "a more distinctive churchly sentiment among the
people."^^^ What the book did was to meet in considerable
measure the demand of those who had wanted more hymns
and to extend the practice of hymn singing in parochial
worship. In other communions also the book was favorably
regarded, and "Episc. Coll." became a familiar ascription
indicating the source of hymns in their hymn books.
The permanent distinction of the Hymns of 1827 is its
contribution to English Hymnody. It brought to the fore
no less than five American Episcopal hymn writers whose
hymns have survived. Dr. Onderdonk contributed nine,
all of which came into use, and one of which ("The Spirit
in our hearts") is widely accepted. Dr. Muhlenberg con-
tributed five, of which "Saviour, who Thy flock art feeding"
is possibly our best Baptismal Hymn; "Shout the glad
tidings" a favorite Christmas Hymn; "I would not live
always" a classic of evangelical "otherworldliness" ; and
"Like Noah's weary dove" is only now passing out of use.
From George W. Doane's Songs by the way the compilers
chose two, "Thou art the way" and "Softly now the light
of day," passing over his renderings of Latin church
hymns. They included also J. Wallis Eastburn's "O Holy,
Holy, Holy Lord," which had been in Henshaw's book, and
Francis S. Key's "Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise
Thee," which had been in Muhlenberg's.
The improvement of the metrical psalms (a return to
the selective principle of 1786 being now desired) remained
'"S. J. McConnell, op. cit., p. 327.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 401
in the hands of the committee, and was finally accomplished
by a joint commission of the General Convention of 1832.^^^
The first copies of their work appeared in 1833 ^s Psalms,
in metre, selected from the Psalms of David. With some
fourteen exceptions, the selections were all from Tate and
Brady's New Version. As bound up with the Prayer Book
these Psalms and the Hymns of 1827 together took the
title of Selections from the Psalms of David in metre, zvitli
Hymns, suited to the feasts and fasts of the Church, and
other occasions of public worship.^^^ This continued in
use without change or addition until 1866, so that the
Hymns of 1827 remained as the only authorized Hymnody
of the Episcopal Church for forty years.
It cannot however be said that either wing of the Church
remained satisfied for so long with the official provision
of hymns. With the development of a high church party
came the desire for a more liturgical and sacramental
Hymnody. But just now we are more concerned with the
low churchmen who carried on the traditions of the Evan-
gelical Party, craved a fuller use of the Evangelical
Hymnody, and followed the example set by Henshaw.
Both Stephen H. and his son Dudley A., Tyng published
collections of "Additional Hymns" for use at lectures and
prayer meetings. The son's collection, bound up with "The
Prayer Book Collection" and Chants and Tunes for the
Book of Common Prayer, appeared as The Lecture-Room
Hymn-Book (Philadelphia, 1855), ^^"^d had some circula-
tion. Even more aggressive was Dr. C. W. Andrews,
whose "Additional Selection," bound up with the Hymns
of 1827, first appeared in 1843. It was based very largely
upon the English collections of Simeon, Baptist W. Noel
and the elder Bickersteth; but Watts, Charles Wesley and
Olney Hymns were the principal sources. From this grew
Andrews' larger collection, Hymns and devotional Poetry,
published by the Society for the Promotion of Evangelical
''^Journals, vol. ii, pp. 408, 437.
'"^Commonly referred to as "The Prayer Book Collection."
402. THE ENGLISH HYMN
Knowledge in 1857, often reissued and later revised. As
bound up with prayers, prose Psalms and the Hymns of
1827, it became Service Book . . . for use in prayer meet-
ings, and on other informal occasions (Philadelphia, 1858) ;
and so suggests a certain rivalry with Tyng's Lecture-Room
Hymn-Book published at the same place three years earlier.
In these privately issued books the Evangelical Hymnody
found opportunity for a quite unfettered presentation.
Apart from their interest as ministering to and embodying
a past phase of church life, they exercised some permanent
influence in securing for the Evangelical Hymnody a
suitable representation in the future hymn books of the
Episcopal Church.
ENGLISH HYMNS IN THE REFORMED DUTCH
CHURCH (1 767-1868)
The Reformed Protestant Dutch churches in the colonies
continued too long for their own good to conduct their
services in the language of the fatherland. But in New
York English preaching was decided upon in 1762.^^' Two
years later an English psalm book was planned,^^^ and
Francis Hopkinson was engaged to prepare it.^^' This he
did by adapting the Neiv Version of Tate and Brady to
the metres of the accustomed melodies of the Dutch Psalter.
The English service book appeared as The Psalms of David,
with the Ten Commandments, Creed, Lord's Prayer, &c.
in metre. Also the Catechism., Confession of Faith, Liturgy,
&c. translated from the Dutch. For the use of the Re-
formed Protestant Dutch Church of the City of New York
(New York: James Parker, 1767). The Dutch rule of
Psalmody was a strict one. Nothing could be sung in
church until authorized, and nothing was authorized but
'''^Ecclesiastical Records: State of New York, vol. vi, Albany, 1905,
p. 3819.
"Vfcirf., p. 3872. ^"Ibid., p. 3931.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 403
versions of the "Psalms of David; the ten commandments;
the Lord's prayer; the 12 articles of the Christian faith;
the songs of Mary, Zachariah, and Simeon versified. . , .
All others are prohibited, and where any have been already
introduced, they shall be discontinued as soon as pos-
sible."^-* To this rule of the Synod of Dort the contents
of the New York psalm book were conformed without
question, and the rule was formally recognized and ratified
at the first General Meeting of the churches in October,
1771.^^^
The new psalm book did not long satisfy the English-
speaking congregations, presumably on account of the
peculiar metres and the melodies adapted to them, and also
from a restlessness under confinement to strict Psalmody.
After the Revolutionary War the General Meeting became
the General Synod, ^^" succeeding to the authority of the
Synod of Dort, and in 1787 it directed that a new psalm
book be prepared "out of other collections of English Psalms
in repute and received in the Reformed churches. "^•''^ The
peculiar phrasing was very likely intended to include The
Psalms of Dai'id imitated of Dr. Watts, which were win-
ning repute in neighboring churches but were questionable
from the point of view of a strict Psalmody. They must
have had many admirers in the extending English-speaking
congregations, but the Reformed Dutch Church as a whole
never yielded to the spell of Watts' Psalms and Hymns
which for so long dominated the Service of Praise in other
denominations.
The proposal that the Church should abandon its historic
position and adopt hymn singing does not seem to have
'""'Rules of Church Government established in tho National Synod,
held in Dordrecht, in the years 1618 and 1619," art. Ixix, as translated
in The Constitution of The Reformed Dutch Church in the U. S. A.,
New York, 1793, p. 289.
^^'Ecclesiastical Records, vol. vi, p. 4224.
^^Acts and Proceedings of the General Synod, vol. i. New York,
1859, p. 128.
"VfciU, p. 167.
404 THE ENGLISH HYMN
come from the committee that had the new psalm book in
charge but from the pastors. It took the form of instruc-
tions to that committee, made "upon mature deHberation"
by the General Synod of 1788 : —
"5. And since it is regarded necessary that some well-composed
spiritual hymns be connected as a supplement with this new Psalm-,
Book, it is ordained that the committee also have a care over this
matter, and print such hymns in connection with the Psalms." "'
"This new Psalm-Book" appeared in the following year
as The Psalms of David, zvitJi Hymns and Spiritual Songs.
Also the Catechism, Confession of Faith, and Liturgy, of
the Reformed Church in the Netherlands. For the use of
the Reformed Dutch CJiurch in North-America. New-
York: printed by Hodge, Allen and Campbell, and sold
at their respective book-stores. M. DCC. LXXXIX.
The hymns are numbered as an even hundred; in reality
135. They were selected by Dr. John H. Livingston^^^
from the whole breadth of the Evangelical Hymnody and
beyond, ^"^ in view of the needs of the Church. Their
classification reveals the special uses for which hymns had
been desired. No less than 84 (numbered as "Hymn i
to 52" with their alternates) are "suited to the Heidelbergh
Catechism," for consecutive singing on the afternoon of
each Sunday through the year in connection with the exposi-
tion of the Catechism.^^^ "Hymn 53 to y^, are adapted to
the Holy Ordinance of the Lord's Supper." "Hymn 74,
to the end, are on Miscellaneous Subjects," mostly occa-
sional, and including "Christmas," "Resurrection," "Ascen-
sion" and "Whitsunday. "^^*^
The Synod of 1790 perceived "with much satisfaction
^^^Acts and Proceedings, vol. i, p. 182.
'^^See "Explanatory Articles," No. Ixv, Constitution, ed. N. Y., 1793,
P- 348.
'^^One was taken from the Moravian Hymn Book of 1754.
"'^See Acts and Pr-oceedings, vol. i, pp. 80, 176.
'^""'For the Church's qualified recognition of "Holy days" see "Ex-
planatory Articles," No. Ixvii, and D. D. Demarest, The Reformed
Church in America, 4th ed., N. Y., 1889, pp. 166-168.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 405
that the English Psalms, together with the selection of
Hymns formerly approved by Synodical decrees, have been
happily committed to the press, and are printed and already
in use in many congregations." The Synod went on to
inform the churches naively enough "that, according to the
intention of the Synod of Dordrecht, hymns which have
been approved by a Synod should not be excluded from
the churches." ^^''' This deliverance was intended to soothe
the consciences of any who had supposed that the Synod
of Dort aimed to use Synodical control for the conservation
of a purely Scriptural Psalmody, or perhaps to serve notice
on a psalm-loving minority that the resistance to hymn
singing then disturbing the Presbyterian Church would
find no countenance in the Reformed Dutch.
The use of the Hymns of 1789 naturally created a desire
for more, and by request of the Synod of 1812^^^ Dr.
Livingston expanded the collection to 273 hymns on the
same lines and with the same grouping. The new book
appeared in 18 14 both at New York and New Brunswick
as The Psalms and Hymns, with the Catechism, Confession
of Faith, and Liturgy of the Reformed Dutch Church in
North America. Selected at the request of the General
Synod. By John H. Livingston, D.D., S.T.P. Adopting
this book Synod regarded it as one of the "Standards of the
Church"; and in 181 5 proceeded to deal with a printer who
ventured upon some "improvements" of the text of certain
hymns. -^^^
This book became the basis of the denominational
Hymnody, standing alone till 1831, intact till 1847; ^•"d,
with its contents distributed and rearranged, retained in
use till 1869. It became "Book I" of the enlargement of
1831 when Dr. Thomas De Witt's committee added 172
hymns. They were first printed as Additional Hymns,
adopted by the General Synod . . . June 18 Ji, and autJwr-
iced to be used in the churches under their care. Phila-
^^'Acts and Proceedings, vol. i, p. 212.
'^Ibid., vol. i, p. 424. ^^'Acts and Proceedings of 181 5, p. 37.
4o6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
delphia: published by G. W. Ments & Son, i8^i; and
thereafter they became "Book H" of the authorized Psalms
and Hymns. This supplement introduced to the Church
many of the now classical hymns of the XVHIth century
Revival, such as "Jesus, Lover of my soul," "Rock of
Ages," and "Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah" ; some
recent hymns, such as Heber's "Brightest and best" and
"From Greenland's icy mountains" ; but "I w^ould not live
alway" was the only one of the novelties in the Protestant
Episcopal collection of 1827 that was utilized.
The Sabbath-school and Social Hymn Book of the Re-
formed Dutch Church, approved in 1843, was made to
cover prayer meetings, in view of information that un-
authorized hymn books were being introduced into the
lecture-room "in many parts of the Church,"^^*^ but had
been designed "to increase the attention of our 3^oung people
to sacred music." ^**^ In the parochial school system the
Dutch had attempted to establish in this country, the leader
of the church Psalmody was also the schoolmaster. But
no attempt was made to introduce music study, and genera-
tion after generation grew up with little ability to participate
in Church Song.^^' The decadence of congregational sing-
ing and the apathy of the people were before the Synod
in 1836^^^ and 1837,^^* and that of 1840, which recom-
mended "the introduction of music in our district schools"
and urged upon the classes "attention to sacred music. "^^^
The Synod of 1845 v/as more concerned with the literary
side of Hymnody in the church service and as an instrument
of Christian education in the home, and put the improve-
ment of the hymn book into the hands of a committee.^^^
Their 341 Additional Hymns . . . adopted . . . June,
1846 appeared at Philadelphia, 1847; and, rearranged with
^^'Acts and Proceedings, vol. vi, p. 164. ^*^Ibid., vol. iv, p. 533.
"'C/. Deniarest, op. cit., pp. 161, 162; John Bodine Thompson, m
The Christian Intelligencer, July 11, 1906.
^*^Acts and Proceedings, vol. iv, p. 533. ^"Ihid., vol. v, p. 89.
'"•Ibid., vol. V, p. 421. "76t(/., vol. vi, p. 478.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 407
the hymns already authorized, and accompanied by the
metrical psalms, standards and liturgy, as The Psalms and
Hymns, . . . of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
in North America. Authorized by the General Synod to be
used in the churches under their care ( 1847).
The Additional Hymns were still predominantly of the
Evangelical school, but later writers were by no means
neglected; and more varieties of metre were sought, in
deference to the statement of Thomas Hastings that "they
were needed by city choirs. "^^^ Many pastors had a differ-
ent feeling toward the strange metres and no welcome for
some of the new hymns. The Classis of Bergen and the
North Classis of Long Island complained of "ninety preach-
ing hymns," "praise to dead saints" (e. g. "Sister, thou
wast mild and lovely"), "heretical expressions," "bad
taste," "nonsense," "a lack of devotion" in some hymns,
and too many "peculiar metres. "^^'^ They and other
malcontents were appeased by some slight changes and by
permission to continue in using the earlier Hymn Book.^^'^
There was no further change in the authorized Hymnody
for more than twenty years. The collection of 1847, with
its 324 "Psalms" and 788 "Hymns," was indeed more than
ample. The distinction between psalm and hymn thus
preserved was largely formal, many of its psalms being
free hymns and some of its hymns being Psalm versions;
and two successive Hymnody committees favored a
rearrangement in one series.
The contribution of the denomination to hymn writing
during all this period was small. It is likely that some of
the didactic hymns of the 1789 book were prepared for it.
In the Psalms and Hymns of 1847 two hymns by George
W. Bethune are included : — "O for the happy hour," and
the translated "It is not death to die." But this was a
^"Ibid., vol. vii, p. 204.
'**For an interesting review of these charges by a committee of
Synod, see Acts and Proceedings, vol. vii, pp. 200-205.
'''Ibid., vol. vii, p. 281.
4o8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
small representation alongside of the thirty-five there
printed from the Mss. of the Presbyterian Thomas Hast-
jj^gg 150 jj^g really outstanding names are those of the
successive compilers, each of whom made a practically
unhampered selection of hymns, — Dr. John H. Livingston,
Dr. Thomas De Witt, and Chancellor Isaac Ferris ; notably
Dr. Livingston, from whose honored hand the Church took
its Hymnody in 1789 and 181 3, and whose compilation
remained intact till 1847. He was thanked for his great
service in 1813, and it was ordered that his name appear
on the title-page of the hymn book,^^^ where it remained
till 1847. Some of the editions had also a copper-plate
portrait of him for frontispiece.
The Reformed Dutch hymn books before 1847 ^'^^^^ ^
denominational distinctiveness in their didacticism, their
exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism and their limited
recognition of the church year. But the really disinctive
feature of the denominational Hymnody was the continued
insistence upon the principle of church control of the Praise,
by which congregations were restricted to the use of selec-
tions made by church authority. This principle of church
control was an inheritance from the Synod of Dort, but
was exercised in this country not in the interest of a Scrip-
tural Psalmody but with a view to "the preservation of a
sound theology. "^^^
VI
ENGLISH HYMNS IN THE GERMAN REFORMED
CHURCH (1 800- 1 858)
With the dawn of the XlXth century the introduction of
English into the worship of German Reformed churches
became at once a necessity and an occasion of bitter strife.^^^
"7&iJ., vol. vii, p. 93.
'''Ibid., Synod of 1813, p. I7- "'C/. Ibid., vol. vii, p. 94-
'°'See J. H. Dubbs, The Reformed Church in rennsylvania, Lan-
caster, 1902, pp. 270 fif.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 409
From that date the process of Anglicizing the Church went
steadily forward. The Reformed Dutch hymn book was
generally introduced into the early English-speaking con-
gregations,^^"* but the Psalms and Hymns of Watts were
also resorted to.^^^ The use of hymns involved no change
in denominational principle or practice. The Reformed
immigrants brought with them hymn books used at home,
and the American Synod had already printed a German
hymn book of its own.^^''
In view of the increase in the use of English the Synod
adopted in 1830 a collection made by the Classis of Mary-
land : Psalms and Hymns, for the use of the German Re-
formed Church, in the United States of America. Pub-
lished by the Synod of said Church. The Psalm versions
numbered 150 precisely: the hymns, 422, increased in 1834
by an appendix to 520.
It was no doubt natural that a generation disposed to
disparage the ways of the fathers, and attaining release
from them with difficulty, should turn its back upon the
riches of the German Hymnody, and wish for a book like
those its American neighbors were using. And such was
the Psalms and Hymns of 1830. The Psalm versions were
largely those of Watts, and the Evangelical Hymnody of
the XVIIIth century furnished the majority of the hymns,
though a number of later writers were represented. There
was a great preponderance of the long, common and short
metres, but the book as a whole is brighter than the con-
temporaneous Presbyterian Psalms and Hymns.
This first English hymn book of the denomination was
also the only one in the period preceding the Liturgical Con-
'"Dubbs, Historic Manual of the Reformed Church in the United
States, Lancaster, 1885, p. 356.
"*'*The writer's copy of Woodward's Philadelphia ed. of 1817, con-
taining "Barlow's Watts" and the Hymns, was "Bought for the German
Reformed Church at Harrisburg, and placed in the pulpit ... on the
20th December, 1820."
^^Das neue und verbesscrte Gesamjbuch, Philadelphia, Steiner u.
Kammerer, 1797: 2nd ed., 1799.
4IO THE ENGLISH HYMN
troversy. Its use indeed extended further, a 66th edition
appearing in 1872. Through all these years the Psalms
and Hymns was printed without tunes and without any
indication of the authorship of the hymns. One other Eng-
lish book from within the denomination before the con-
troversy was The Saints' Harp: a Collection of Hymns and
Spiritual Songs, adapted to prayer and social meetings,
and seasons of revival. Selected and arranged by Rev. J. F.
Berg (Philadelphia, 1839: 2nd ed., 1843). ^^ contains
some good hymns and many revival songs of a surprisingly
low order; also five originals by Dr. Berg, all but one of
which picture the wrath to come. It was no doubt pre-
pared for those "protracted meetings" that characterized
Dr. Berg's pastorate in the old Race Street Church in Phila-
delphia.^^^
VII
ENGLISH HYMNS IN THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
(1756-1859)
The differing tongues of early Lutheran immigrants
presented a bar to a common Lutheran worship; and the
process of Anglicizing that worship encountered not only
the difficulties of a new language but was hindered by the
jealousies it awakened. ^^^
-^ In New York Muhlenberg tried to meet the situation by
preaching in Dutch in the morning, in German in the after-
noon, and in English in the evening. The book from which
he lined out the hymns at the English services was a copy
of Psalmodia Germanica, a collection of rather crude ver-
sions of German hymns, mostly by John Christian Jacobi,
Keeper of the Royal German Chapel at St. James' Palace,
"'D. Van Home, A History of the Reformed Church in Phila-
delphia, Phila., 1876, p. 79.
"'C/. Henry E. Jacobs, A History of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in the United States (Am. Church Hist, series), N. Y., 1893,
p. 251.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 411
London (first published in 1722; a second part in 1725:
the two united in 1732).
When it was clear that English services were to be con-
tinued, a reprint of the edition of 1732 was made, appear-
ing as Psalrnodia Germanica: or, The German Psalmody.
Translated from the High Dutch. Together with tJieir
proper tunes, and thorough bass. The third edition, cor-
rected and very much enlarged. London, printed: New
York, re-printed, and sold by H. Gaine, at the Bible &
Crown, in Queen-Street, i/j6: with A Supplement to
German Psalmody: done into English ... as a second
title.-^^^ This was the first English hymn book of American
Lutheranism. It was used at the English services of the
(Dutch) Trinity Church, at Hackensack, and probably in
other churches along the Hudson. ^*^^ It included 'many of
the best Lutheran hymns; and, had the English versions
been of better quality, might have afforded a nucleus for
the development here of a characteristic Lutheran Hym-
nody.
In 1784 the scholarly Dr. Kunze became pastor of the
united Christ Church and Trinity in New York, and was
deeply concerned with the development of an English-
speaking Lutheranism. He published A Hymn and Prayer-
Book: for the use of such Lutheran Churches as use the
English Language. Collected by John C. Kun::e, D.D.
Senior of the Lutheran Clergy in the State of New York
(New York: Hurtin and Commardinger, 1795). This
interesting book is of even date with Jeremy Belknap's
Boston Sacred Poetry, but is not to be judged by the same
standard. Kunze had first of all to provide a body of
hymns from the German that could be sung to the original
melodies. The two available sources he commanded were
Gaine's reprint of Psalmodia Germanica^^^ and the English
""There is a facsimile of the title-page of this rare book in The
Journals of Hugh Gaine, N. Y., 1902, vol. i, p. 95. '""Jacobs, p. 339.
'"' "With which many serious English persons have been greatly
delighted." Kunze's preface.
412 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Moravian Collection of 1789, which he regarded as "an
excellent collection." From these he took in about equal
number some 150 hymns. He had then to choose the most
desirable English hymns, of whose sources he knew little,
and whose language he imperfectly comprehended. Of
these he included about 70, with Watts in the lead, followed
by Charles Wesley, Newton and other evangelical hymn
writers, with two by Bishop Ken and one by Erskine.^*^^
To an appendix he relegated six hymns of his own, five by
his assistant, George Strebeck, and four by J. F. Ernst, a
pastor in the Albany region : of these some are translations
from the German, and the others sound as if they were.
The Lutheran and Moravian, Wesleyan and Evangelical,
strains thus mingle in this pioneer hymn book; but on the
whole the Moravian seems to preponderate.
Kunze was thus the first hymn book editor, and he and
his associates the first hymn writers, of English-speaking
Lutheranism in America. His book contributed little in
the way of materials toward a Lutheran Hymnody; and yet
he indicated, and according to his opportunities followed
out, the three lines on which such Hymnody must develop : —
the Englishing of the best Lutheran hymns, the selection of
the most available English hymns, and the writing of hymns
by American Lutherans.
The first English-speaking congregation was Zion's, New
York; formed in 1796 out of Dr. Kunze's German
Church,^^^ and Strebeck became its pastor. Alleging "the
unsuitableness of the metres of our English Lutheran
Hymn Book, published in 1795" and the request of his
own congregation, ^^^ he prepared for it A Collection of
evangelical Hymns, made from different authors and col-
lections, for the English Lutheran Church, in New York:
by George Strebeck (New York: John Tiebout, 1797).
Like Kunze he gave prominence to the church year, but
'"'From F. M. Bird's analysis of the book in "Lutheran Hymnology,"
The Evangelical Quarterly Review, January, 1865.
"'Jacobs, op. cit., p. 319. "'Preface.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 413
retained only 48 of Kunze's hymns; and of them only 10
are from the German, 3 of John Wesley's translations
being added. Two-thirds of Kunze's book was of German
origin, of Strebeck's only one twenty-third. Of the re-
maining 256 hymns, one half represents Watts and his
school, one-fifth Charles Wesley, one-eighth Olncy
Hymns}^^ The editor apologized for so many hymns from
un-Lutheran sources, but within a few years carried the
bulk of his congregation over to the Protestant Episcopal
Church.
When Ralph Williston became Strebeck's successor at
Zion in 1805, the vestry and trustees requested him to
make a new hymn book, as not a copy of the earlier book
was to be had, and its "obvious deficiency" made reprinting
inexpedient.^*''*' "The Evangelical Lutheran Ministry" of
New York State had made a resolution, of some years
standing, "that a new edition of the English Lutheran
Hymn-book should be procured," ^^^ and either joined in
Williston's work of compilation, or else accepted it when
complete. The new book appeared as A choice Selection
of evangelical Hymns, from various authors: for the use
of the English Evangelical Lutheran Church in New York.
By Ralph Williston (New York: J. C. Totten, 1806).
Among the Passion Hymns are seven transferred from Dr.
Kunze's book, but Watts and Charles Wesley contribute
nearly three- fourths of the whole. The rest are from the
school of Watts and other Evangelical writers. Notwith-
standing Dr. Kunze's certificate that none of its hymns
are "dissonant to our doctrine," neither its arrangements
nor contents suggests Lutheranism. It was in fact a good
evangelical collection and was used widely within the New
York Ministerium, and was introduced into the new Eng-
lish-speaking St. John's Church of Philadelphia.^''^
Williston, who had been a Methodist, proceeded to ad-
^"^Cf. Bird, ut supra. """'Advertisement" prefixed.
'"'Certificate, signed "John C. Kunze."
"'Jacobs, op. cit., p. 341.
414 THE ENGLISH HYMN
minister a great blow to English-speaking Lutheranism by
seceding to the Protestant Episcopal Church. He carried
his congregation with him, and the only English Lutheran
church in New York was reincorporated as "Zion Prot-
estant Episcopal Church" in i8io.^^^
There was thus no occasion to reprint Williston's book,
nor did it continue to recommend itself to the Synod of
New York.^'*^ The Synod was entering a period generally
characterized as "rationalistic," under the leadership of Dr.
Frederick H. Quitman of Rhinebeck. In 1813 the Synod,
meeting in his church, ordered the preparation of a new
hymn book; which appeared as A Collection of Hymns,
and a Liturgy, for the use of Evangelical Lutheran
Churches: puhlislied by order of the Evangelical Lutheran
Synod of the State of Nezv York (New York and Phila-
delphia, 1814).
It accommodated itself to the tendencies of the time
and place by avoiding the types of experience developed in
the Methodist and Evangelical Revival, and reverting to
the school of Watts, including Thomas Scott and others
more or less Arian, yet not rejecting the warmth of Anne
Steele, who has some 70 hymns. It dropped out Willis-
ton's section on "The Trinity," qualified the Passion
Hymns, and like current New England books, emphasized
natural religion. But from its point of view the selection
was good and conveniently arranged. Its tone was deep-
ened and enriched, and many of its omissions supplied,
by the Additional Hymns published in 1834. Thus
strengthened, the Collection of 181 4 retained for many
years its hold upon English-speaking churches not only
within but beyond the Synod of New York. As late as
1865 Mr. Bird reports it as still used in New York city,
'""J. G. Wilson, The Centoniial History of the Diocese of New
York. New York, 1886, p. 248.
'^"In its preface of 1814, Synod lumps the previous hymn books
as the attempts of individuals, whicii "evidently admit of great
improvement."
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 415
Albany, Easton, Reading, in half a dozen country churches
in New York and New Jersey, and perhaps a few in
Pennsylvania.^^^
Different from anything that had preceded it, and much
more churchly, was a hymn book prepared by Paul Henkel,
pastor at New Market, Virginia, and missionary at large;
one of a family noted for the aggressiveness of its con-
servatism : — Church Hymn Book, consisting of nezvly com-
posed Hymns, with an addition of Hymns and Psalms,
from other authors, carefully adapted for the use of public
worship, and many other occasions. By Paul Henkel,
Minister of the Gospel. First edition. Nezv Market:
Shenandoah County {Virginia.), printed in Solomon Hcn-
kel's Printing Office, 18 16. It has 347 Hymns, followed by
a complete metrical Psalter from Watts and others. The
first part is a "Hymnal Companion to the Liturgy," with
"Hymns adapted to the Gospel and Epistle throughout the
ecclesiastical year" and to the various occasions and offices
of the church; followed by more general hymns. Un-
fortunately a large part of the contents was from Henkel's
own pen, and is nothing more than didactic prose broken
up into short phrases that serve as lines of verse.
But it was the Henkels and their sympathizers who
broke away from the Synod of North Carolina, and formed
in 1820 the new Synod of Tennessee. By its direction a
revised and enlarged edition of Henkel's book was prepared
by his son Ambrose. Over three hundred of Henkel's
hymns are retained in the now official book, and eleven are
by members of his family. The bulk of the remainder is
from Watts and his school, Charles Wesley, and the
writers of the Evangelical Revival, with Watts predom-
inant. A third edition, with trifling changes, appeared in
1850, and a fourth, with additions, in 1857. But it is
probable that the use of the book was confined within the
limits of the Synod, and that on Lutheran Hymnody in
general it exerted no appreciable influence.
"Wt supra, p. 38.
4i6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
The General Synod, convened at Frederick, Maryland,
in 1 82 1, represented the first effort to give a central gov-
ernment and direction to the forces of Liitheranism in
America ; and was to become an active agency in the Angli-
cizing of Lutheran churches. It was really the creation
of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, under a resolution
adopted in 1818. But the Ministerium had elected to re-
main a German-speaking body, and had no English hymn
book of its own. In the English-speaking congregations
allowed (not without protest) within its bounds, the New
York Collection was used.^^^ But the New York Synod
had not come into the General Synod, and moreover the
experience of the congregations using their Collection had
proved it to be in some respects inadequate. ^''^•'^ There was
thus an opportunity for something in the way of a common
hymn book, and for the forward step in Hymnody which
the situation and the needs of the churches plainly called
for.
The project of a new hymn book was referred in 1825
to a committee, with Dr. S. S. Schmucker as chairman.
Three years later it appeared as Hymns, selected and
original, for public and private zvorship. Published by the
General Synod of the Ev. Lutheran Church. First edition.
Published, Gettysburg, Pa. Stereotyped by L. Johnson,
Phila., 1828. The title was misleading, the original material
being trifling both in extent and importance,^^^ and was
so inept as to suggest that the compilers were unaware of,
or unequal to, their unusual opportunity. Such as it was,
the title remained affixed to the authorized Hymnody of
the General Synod for more than forty years.
The contents of the book hardly fulfil even the measure
"^E. T. Horn "Chronological Summary of the Acts of the Synod
of Pennsylvania," 1878, p. 19 — .
'"^The official preface of General Synod's hymn book of 1828
describes it as "a most excellent work," but lacking sufficient variety,
and omitting many of the choicest English hymns.
''^Two hymns by Dr. Schmucker himself constitute the only mate-
lial identified as original in the 1828 edition.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 417
of promise held forth in the title. It was plainly purposed
to embody the full scope of evangelical theology and every
phase of evangelical experience in these 759 hymns, songs
and exhortations. At the time the wave of rationalism
was being succeeded by a wave of revivalism, and revival
methods were replacing catechetical. The book is in full
sympathy with the new methods, appropriating many rude
revival songs. The textual treatment of the standard
hymns is often distressing, and as containing the authorized
Hymnody of a historic Church, with its inherited stand-
ards of doctrine and churchmanship the Hymns of 1828
seems singularly unworthy.
In 1 84 1 a supplement of 199 hymns was added, and the
book reached its 56th edition by 1849. In the year follow-
ing appeared a new edition, prepared by a representative
committee headed by Dr. William M. Reynolds, containing
some 800 selections from the old edition, and 200 that were
new. It had thirty hymns from the German ;^'^ but at
that date the committee were largely dependent on Henry
Mills' somewhat prosy Horae Germanicae or their own
powers of translation. In the remainder. Watts and his
followers, Wesley and the hymn writers of the Revival,
are represented in about the proportions of the New York
Collection. Of late writers, there are nine by the English
Heber and seven by the American Samuel F. Smith. ^'^^
The number of revival songs is much reduced; and in all
respects the revision benefited Lutheran Hymnody.
But in Lutheran as in other Churches congregational
hymn singing was suffering from the encroachments of
the choir. In adopting the hymns of their neighbors, they
necessarily gave over the use of the German chorals, and
were dependent upon their neighbors for suitable tunes also.
Some of the tunes thus appropriated were "worn out
worldly tunes," caught up from social life or from their
use in revivals. Even more menacing was the unfailing
"'There is a list in the "large edition" of 1852.
"°C/. Bird in Evangelical Quarterly Review, April, 1865, p. 219.
4i8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
succession of American tune books, which appealed to the
choirs by their novelty, and kept them supplied with tunes
which the people did not know; resulting in "the present
neglect or discontinuance of congregational singing." ^'^^
By way of remedy, Drs. Seiss, McCron and Passavant
offered to the General Synod an edition of Hymns selected
and original which they had revised and for the first time
set to music. Failing the acceptance of Synod, it appeared
on their own responsibility as The Evangelical Psalmist:
a collection of Tunes and Hymns for use in congregational
and social worship. Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston,
i8^p. In this sincere effort to better Lutheran Praise, the
selection and arrangement of hymns was improved, the
texts less so. The musical features were at least above
the average level of the time, and mainly for their sake
the book found some congregational use.
Within the limits of the General Synod, there were also
the beginnings of a Lutheran Sunday school Hymnody.
The elder Dr. Krauth printed at Philadelphia in 1838 his
Hymns, selected and arranged for Sunday schools, of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church, and adapted to Sunday
schools in general; and in 1843 Dr. Passavant printed at
Baltimore his Hymns, selected and original, for Sunday
schools, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. They con-
tained little specially appealing to childhood.
The General Synod never at any time included all the
synods or a majority of Lutherans, but, in the absence of
any English hymn book put forth by the Pennsylvania
Ministerium, its Hymns selected and original came the
nearest to being the common hymn book of English-speak-
ing Lutherans. It came into use in probably not less than
four-fifths of their congregations. ^'^^ Its successive editions
mark the progress of the Anglicizing process, and cover a
period in which the ways of surrounding denominations
^"Report on Congregational Singing to Ministerium of N. Y., Sept.
8. 1857, p. 7-
'"Bird, ut supra, p. 223.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 419
prevailed over Lutheran traditions. The Hymnody itself
is not Lutheran, but is drawn from outside; it may rather
be described as well within the lines of the Evangelical
Hymnody, though somewhat heightened in color through
revivalistic influences.
The foresight of the prevalence of English in the General
Synod had kept the Synod of Ohio, organized in 181 8 on
missionary ground, from joining in its formation. ^'^ But
provision was early made for English services, at which
the General Synod's Hymns was used.^^^ The Joint Synod
of Ohio and other States was formed in 1833, ^^^ ^^P^ its
independence in the interests of strictly confessional Luther-
anism. It is therefore not surprising that Synod discovered
"the strange bias of many hymns in the book [of General
Synod]." This, and the difficulty and expense of obtaining
books from the East^^^ led to the publication of A Collection
of Hymns and Prayers for public and private worship.
Published by order of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint
Synod of Ohio. Zanesville, printed at the Lutheran Stand-
ard office, 184^. Its compilers were required to make the
General Synod's book, as already considerably in use, their
basis, and they added some hymns from the New York
Collection and the Episcopal "Prayer Book Collection." A
very churchly collection could not have been made from
these sources, but a much better collection than these 453
hymns could readily have been made. To avoid the "bias"
of the old book, such hymns as "Jesus, Lover of my soul,"
"Rock of Ages," "Love Divine, all loves excelling," and
"When I survey the wondrous cross," were passed by.
The new book belongs to the school of Watts. He and
Doddridge and Steele furnish more than half the hymns,
while Wesley and the writers of the Revival have less than
forty.
The book did not satisfy the churches, and after various
"•Jacobs, op. cit., p. 359.
'*"Ohio Synod's preface, 1845.
'''Ibid.
420 THE ENGLISH HYMN
resolutions in the several districts, the Joint Synod pub-
lished Collection of Hymns for public and private worship.
PublisJied by order of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod
of Ohio. Columbus (n. d., 2nd ed., 1855; 3rd ed., 1858;
4th ed., 1863). It was a sincere and not ineffective effort
to make a Lutheran hymn book. The compilers had been
instructed "to adapt the hymn book to the ecclesiastical
year," ^^- but found "our English hymnology rather
barren," and were able to provide only for the greater
feasts and fasts. The collection includes 51 versions of
German hymils, and brings forward as translators and
hymn writers Dr. Matthias Loy (nine versions, 7 originals),
Prof. L. Heyl (7 versions, i original), J. H. Good (4 ver-
sions), Dr. William M. Reynolds (2 new versions, with
3 taken from General Synod's book).
This later edition of the Ohio book marks the transition
from the earlier period of Lutheran Hymnody, when it
was satisfied merely to appropriate the current Evangelical
Hymnody, to the later period when the Hymnody was
made to embody Lutheran traditions and ideals.
VIII
DIVERSE CURRENTS OF HYMNODY
Even in colonial times some trends of theological thought
began to manifest a departure from the old orthodoxy.
And to these were added by importation from abroad
various exotic growths of religious opinion and practice
which found here more or less congenial soil and developed
into independent sects openly antagonistic of the faith and
church order of the denominations already established in
America.
Among the earliest and most interesting of the new move-
ments was the Unitarian revolt whose early dealings with
the accepted Hymnody we have already traced in connec-
^'Treface.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 421
tion with the New England Congregationalism from which
it proceeded. With some other aspects of the Hymnody of
theological revolt we have now to concern ourselves.
I. Early Universalist Hymns (1776- 1849)
Expelled from Whitefield's meeting, and coming to
America in 1770 as an avowed disciple of James Relly,
John Murray became the founder of American Universal-
ism. As part of a propaganda of the new faith he secured
22 7, subscribers to a reprint of the Rellys' Christian Hymns,
Poems and Spiritual Songs, sacred to the praise of God
our Saviour (London, 1770),^^^ from the press of Isaac
Collins at Burlington, N. J., in 1776. Among the sub-
scribers were 38 persons in the First Parish of Gloucester,
Mass., where Murray had preached, who soon formed the
First Independent Church of Christ, introduced the Relly
book, and continued to use it until 1808.^^^ It thus became
the first hymn book of American Universalism. A historiatt
of the denomination says that from the hymn books then
in general use "it was difficult for Universalists to select
any that did not decidedly antagonize their belief." ^^^ A
much greater difficulty must have been found in making
use of the Relly book with its irregular metres, especially
in a church where the singing was accompanied by a crank
organ having in its barrel only ten psalm tunes. ^'^'^ /
A second reprint of the Relly book appeared at Ports-
mouth, N. H., in 1782, for Noah Parker, a convert of
Murray's who preached to a congregation gathered in that
town.^^^ Appended were five "Hymns, by J. [ohn]
M. [urray]." They have little originality but are smooth
in rhythm, and show that Murray understood the Congre-
gational Hymn much better than did the Rellys.
'"See chap, vii, part III.
''^Richard Eddy, Universalism in Gloucester, Mass., Gloucester, 1892,
pp. 21, 48, and appx. E.
"■*R. Eddy in "American Churcli History Series," vol. x, p. 473.
^"^Universalism in Gloucester, p. 21. ^"Ibid., appx. E, p. 129.
422 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Mention has already been made of an independent move-
ment disrupting the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia,
where Elhanan Winchester had preached "an universal
restoration," and of the two collections of hymns made
for his expelled followers who organized in 1781 as "The
Society of Universal Baptists." ^^^ Winchester's theology
was very different from Murray's, and his hymn books
much nearer the evangelical type than the Rellyan book;
and he brought large accessions to the Universalist ranks,
especially from Baptist congregations. ^^^
The need of establishing a common basis and some sort
of organization among the congregations brought about
the Philadelphia Convention of 1790, which at its 1791
session perfected arrangements for a common hymn book.
But correspondence with the Boston church revealed in
the matter of Church Song also divergence of opinion.
The Philadelphians were preparing a metrical exposition
of Universalism : the Bostonians demanded a book of
praise. Agreement proving unattainable, each party to the
controversy proceeded to publish its own book. The Con-
vention hymn book appeared as Evangelical Psalms, Hymns
and Spiritual Songs, selected from various authors, and
"^Chap. iv, part IV, section III, 2, (i).
""D. Benedict, A general History of the Baptist Denomination,
Boston, 1813, vol. i, p. 275. In England also, where he spent more
than six years (1787-1794), Winchester preached Restorationism and
published hymns and hymn books. In 1794 appeared The Universalist' s
Hymn Book; containing I. Original Hymns . . . by Elhanan Win-
chester. H. An Appendix, consisting of a small but choice Collection
of Hymns, from several authors, particularly designed for the use of
those congregations who believe in the Millenium, and the Universal
Restoration (London: printed for the author). In 1797 (the year of
his death on April 18 at Hartford) appeared in London The Psalms
of David, versified from a new translation, and adapted to Christian
worship. Particularly intended for the use of such Christians as be-
lieve in the universal and unbounded love of God, manifested unto all
his fallen creatures by Christ Jesus. To which is added A Collection
of Hymns by various authors (London: printed for the author). This
is generally attributed to Winchester and was evidently connected
with the chapel where he preached.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 423
publisJicd by a committee of the Convention of the Churches,
believing in the restitution of all-men, met in Philadelphia,
May 25, ijgi (Philadelphia, T. Dobson, 1792). There
are 192 hymns arranged in groups under the name of the
author or source, and 114 are from Universalist sources:
38 of them from the Relly book, with the 5 added by
Murray. There are 35 by Silas Ballou, an argumentative
rhymer of Vermont who had printed his New Hymns on
various subjects in 1785 (Worcester: 2nd ed., Newbury,
1797) : and 15 from Winchester's Choice Collection of
1784, many of which are however Evangelical standards.
One of the compilers, Artis Seagrave of New Jersey, con-
tributed 21 original hymns which are much better than
Ballou's. The remainder of the book consists of groups
from Watts, Hart, Rippon's Selection, ]. Barclay and Ralph
Erskine.
The Boston book appeared in the same year, as Psalms,
Hymns, and Spiritual Songs: selected and original.
Designed for the use of the Church Universal, in public
and private devotion (Boston, 1792). The originals were
52 hymns of moderate merit contributed by the principal
editor, the Rev. George Richards, ^^" whose preface is still
suggestive. Richards' "name and fame" as a "forgotten
poet of American freedom and harmonious elegist of
General Washington" was revived by Edward Everett
Hale,^^^ but his personality and his hymn book are more
interesting than his hymns. Declining to set forth "the
attributes and perfections of Deity," he started at Creation
and followed the progressive revelation of salvation. Be-
ginning with a purpose of revising and enlarging the Relly
book, hitherto used in the Boston church, he surveyed the
whole field of the Evangelical Hymnody, and ended by
""They were omitted from a 2nd ed. of the Boston book as copy-
righted property, and restored as an appendix to the third ed. (Boston,
1808) by Richards' permission.
"'In Old and New for February, 1872, and see Eddy, Univcrsalism
in America, vol. i, pp. 291, ff.
424 THE ENGLISH HYMN
accepting Rippon's "beautiful collection" as the model hymn
book.
The Boston book was followed by two others made for
local use and flavored with the Rellyan theology. One was
made by Edward MitchelP®^ and printed in 1796 for the
New York congregation; the other, for the Gloucester
church, appeared at Boston in 1808.^^^ In the same year
appeared a book designed for more general circulation : —
Hymns composed by different authors, by order of the
General Convention of Universalists of the New England
States and others. Adapted to public and private devotion
(Walpole, 1808). The Convention had designed a collec-
tion :^^^ what its committee produced and published was a
body of crude originals by the chairman, Hosea Ballou,
Abner Kneeland, and Edward Turner. ^^^ The book found,
nevertheless, some acceptance, and reached a second edition
(Charlestown, 1810) : at least one of the hymns remaining
till now in Universalist use.
All three of these authors tried their hands again. Knee-
land put his name to The Philadelphia Hymn Book (Phila-
delphia, 1 819), which was merely a reissue of Eddowes
and Taylor's Arian Sacred Poetry, with an appendix in
which the three figure largely. In 1821 Ballou and Turner
brought out The Universalists' Hymn Book (Boston: 2nd
ed., 1824), in which much of the inferior materials they
had contributed to their former book gave way to standard
hymns.
Christian Hymns adapted to the worship of God our
Saviour (Boston, 1823) was made for the society in Bul-
finch Street. It drew from Arian, Evangelical, Sweden-
borgian and Universalist sources, but failed to classify the
hymns. Such an inconvenience in this and other books is
given as one of the reasons for publishing The new Hymn
"'Ibid., p. 468.
"'See an account of it in Universalism in Gloucester, pp. 204 f.
"*See the preface.
"°C/. Eddy, in "American Church History Series," pp. 476 f.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 425
Book designed for Universalist Societies by Sebastian and
Russell Sfreeter (Boston, 1829), which reached a 35th
edition in 1845. Also widely used was A Collection of
Psalms and Hymns for the use of Universalist Societies
and families. By Hosea Ballou, 2nd (Boston, 1837: 14th
ed., 1843) ; and the two books were not unlike in seeking
a somewhat more critical principle in the selection of their
hymns.
From a number of unimportant books Abel C. Thomas'
Hymns of Zion with appropriate music (Philadelphia,
1839) may be selected as the first within the denomination
to provide tunes for the hymns. But his special mission
was to correct "the prosaic and inelegant style" of "Watts,
Rippon, the VVesleys, and other devout men." Adin Ballou's
The Hopedale Collection of Hymns and Songs, for the use
of practical Christians (Hopedale, Mass., 1849) sounded a
new note in his call for social reform, offering sections of
hymns upon anti-slavery, non-resistance, a new social state,
and like themes.
It thus appears that the first seventy-five years of Amer-
ican Universalism were prolific in the production of hymn
books, and of hymn writing also, since almost all of the
editors offered original hymns. The multiplicity of the
books is explained by the growth of the denomination and
the inconvenience of using books compiled from a different
point of view. The hymn writing is partly explained by the
desire to give expression to new found convictions, partly,
it must be confessed, by a lack of culture that failed to
perceive the want of poetic feeling or expression in what
was offered, and made hymn writing very easy. All of
this writing failed to produce a single classic of Universal
Salvation, or much that even Universalism has cared to
preserve. To the Churches outside it has not contributed a
single hymn, or in any way affected the course of English
Hymnody; a fact the more notable in view of a somewhat
widespread sympathy outside with "Universal" tenets or
hopes.
426 THE ENGLISH HYMN
2. SWEDENBORGIAN HyMNODY (1792-1830)
The doctrines of Swedenborg were preached in this coun-
try as early as 1784, and in 1792 a society of his followers
organized at Baltimore. For its use at once appeared a neat
reprint of the third edition of the New Jerusalem Church
Liturgy, printed at London, 1790, by Robert Hindmarsh,
including a reprint of the Hymns by Joseph Proud, first
appearing at London in 1 790 as Hymns and Spiritual Songs
for the use of the Lord's New Church. Its title was The
Liturgy of the Nezv Church, signified by the New Jerusalem
in the Revelation. . . . Also Hymns and Spiritual Songs,
by the Rev. Mr. Joseph Proud, Minister of the Nczv Church.
The fourth edition (Baltimore: Samuel and John Adams,
1792) ; and the hymns number 304. The American branch
of the New Church was thus at once put into possession
of a sufficient body of hymns, brimfull of its peculiar doc-
trines and written much in the Doddridge manner.
By 1 81 7 there were societies enough to justify a con-
vention, which met at Philadelphia. Five years later ap-
peared Hymns for the use of the Nezv Cliiirch, signified
by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse. Published for
the use of the New Church, by T. S. Manning, printer,
Philadelphia, 1822-66. The 285 hymns, separately paged,
were bound in with The Liturgy, bearing the same imprint.
They constitute a fresh selection, with less of Proud than
would be expected; his hymns having perhaps proved too
didactic and monotonous. By that date several English
New Church collections were available as sources, and a
large use was also made of hymns familiar in other
Churches. The 292 hymns making a part of Tlie Order of
Worship, for the use of the Second New Jerusalem Church
of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1830) were substantially the
same selection, with modifications.
"The New Church" thus began its career in this country
with an unusual equipment in the way of a Hymnody
strictly denominational, but none the less with a decided
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 427
disposition to retain or to adapt much of the standard Hym-
nody of "the Old Church." The doctrine of the unity of
the Godhead in Jesus left available a considerable body of
the Evangelical Hymnody celebrating Christ's divinity;
and the New Church was still ready to sing "Blest be the
tie that binds" and "Let party names no more." ^^^
3. "Shaker Music" (1774-1893)
Mother Ann Lee came to America in 1774 with the
revelation of the Kingdom and way of life she had received
during her English imprisonment, and established a celibate
community at Watervliet, N. Y. In this and the communi-
ties later formed, the inspirational gifts of the early Church
were renewed, as manifested by "involuntary operations of
singing and dancing" ; and the devoted "were filled with
melodious and heavenly songs, especially while under the
operation of dancing." ^^^ There was no printed hymn book
for common use till 181 2-1 3, when 140 hymns composed in
the various communities were gathered up in Millenial
Praises, containing a Collection of Gospel Hymns, in four
parts; adapted to the day of Christ's second appearing.
Composed for the use of his people. Hancock, printed by
Josiah Tallcott, junior, 181^. The hymns are set forth not
as inspirational, but as the fruit of "the labors of Believers"
"in this line." They are argumentative, descriptive, homi-
letical, doctrinal, but practically never worshipful with a
direct address to God ; filled on the one hand with Scripture
history and terminology, and on the other with references
to Mother Ann: — "So says our blessed mother"; "our
]\Iother paved the way"; "The Son of Man, Who was
revealed in Mother Ann"; (reminiscently) "As Mother
Ann did say." The doctrine is aggressively Shaker, and
like almost all sectarian Hymnody the hymns have no
literary merit.
""Collection of 1822, Nos. 213, 214. '
"M summary view of the Millenial Church, Albany, 1823, p. 80.
428 THE ENGLISH HYMN
The Canterbury community published in 1847 ^ Collec-
tion of Millcnial Hymns, adapted to the present order of
the Church, and in 1852 A sacred repository of Hymns
and Anthems, accompanied by original melodies. By this
time the store of Shaker anthems and hymns had become
"a multiplicity." These selections show more metrical facility
and an uninterrupted praise of "The Queen of fair Zion."
In the West, especially, Richard McNemar has been re-
garded as the poet of Shakerism, the father of its songs
and journalism. ^^^ He gathered in 1833, under the
pseudonym of Philos Harmoniae, A Selection of Hymns
and Poems; for the use of believers (Watervliet, O.),
including many of his own.
There was some elementary, "but little scientific, musical
education" in the communities, and the composers, like the
writers "chiefly relied upon the teachings of the Spirit." ^^^
Shaker Music. Inspirational Hymns and melodies illus-
trative of the resurrection life and testimony of the Shakers
(Albany, 1875: rev. ed. New York, Pond & Co., 1884)
and Original Shaker Music. Published by the North family
of Mt. Lebanon (Pond, 1893), are for the benefit of the
outside world, and reveal the inspirational music as not
greatly differing from the middle-century Bradbury type
of Sunday school songs.
4. Adventist Hymns (1843-1887)
It was not till the second quarter of the century that
William Miller went from town to town with his interpre-
tation of Prophecy and his charts, and raised the "Midnight
Cry" of the end of the world in 1843. The alarm-call
sounded by him and his band of preachers, and circulated
in lurid tracts, propagated a revival of the fanatical sort,
whose converts up to the expected day of Christ's coming
"■See J. P. MacLean, The Life of Richard McNemar (Franklin,
O.) ; and, for Shaker hymn books, his A Bibliography of Shaker
Literature, Columbus, 1905.
""Preface to Shaker Music, 1884.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 429
have been estimated at over 50,000.^"" The atmosphere of
the tent meetings was intensely emotional, and the excite-
ment found expression in what has been called a "barbaric
ecstacy" of song, quite beyond the control of the more sober
leaders. The hymns or "spirituals" are preserved in a
little pamphlet of 36 pages : Hymns, designed for the use
of the Second Advent Band. "In eighteen hundred forty-
three. Will he the year of Jubilee." Published by N. Stevens
and H. B. Skinner, 184^. The opening hymn begins
(omitting the repeats) : —
"You will see your Lord a coming
To the old church yards,
With a band of music,
Sounding it through the air."
It was the great favorite, sung to "The Old Granite
State," ^"^ and is typical of the whole collection.
When the tense expectancy of the last-day meetings re-
mained unrewarded, and 1843 had passed, Miller organized
his followers, at Albany in 1845, ^s "Adventists," with a
chastened faith in the imminent and literal Second Coming.
With renewed hope came growth that still continues, and
with new prophets came disintegration, until now the
original "Millerism" is represented by six distinct sects of
Adventists.
The Evangelical Adventists, with the American
Millenial Association, represent the original body; and their
Hymnody became the care of J. V. Himes, one of Miller's
early disciples. His earlier book, Millenial Harp: for meet-
ings on the Second Coming of Christ, appeared in three
parts, and complete in 1846 (Boston) : and, as modified in
the light of use, reappeared as The Advent Harp ; designed
for believers in the speedy coming of Christ (Boston:
J. Y. Himes, 1849). It is of odd construction, consisting
of a church hymnal of 310 numbers, followed by 259
''"Jane M. Parker, in The Review and Expositor (Louisville),
January, 191 1, p. 51.
'"'Ibid., p. 53.
430 THE ENGLISH HYMN
pages of Adveni: and other songs, unnumbered, that are
set to music. The authors of the Advent songs are unnamed,
but they are less crude than at first, and it is notable that
many express no more than the conventional longing for
heaven. The Harp: compiled by John Pearson, jr. (Boston :
J. V. Himes, 1856)-*^^ is even more of the church hymnal
type, with the usual provision for subjects and occasions,
though an unusual emphasis on "Messiah's triumph and
reign." Its ample provision of 1164 hymns would suggest
to the uninitiated the expectation of a long wait.
The Advent Christians organized in 1861 with the
doctrine of conditional immortality and the practice of im-
mersion in their principles. The Jubilee Harp (Boston:
Advent Christian Pub. Soc, 1867) shows a preference for
hymns and music of the lighter type, including "You will
see your Lord a coming." The New Jubilee Harp of 1881
is largely of the "Gospel Hymns" type. It is interesting to
note that a supplement became expedient to meet the demand
for more "of the hymns of the fathers" ; which phrase seems
to include familiar church hymns as well as early Advent
songs. The Hymns of the Morning (Concord, N. H.,
1872), compiled by Charles C. Barker of West Meriden,
was in the nature of a small alternate to The Jubilee Harp,
and pointed an unintended contrast by its large use of the
Advent hymns of Horatius Bonar. It was enlarged as
Hymns of the Advent (Springfield, 1881).
Hymns and Tunes for those who keep the command-
ments of God and the faith of Jesus (Battle Creek, Mich-
igan, 1876) represents the organized Seventh-day Ad-
VENTiSTS, obeying the commandment to keep that day holy.
It has a sober standard of hymns and tunes, with which most
of the Advent hymns, not unduly numerous, comply. The
Seventh-day Advent ist Hymn and Tune Book: published by
the General Conference (Washington, 1887) is a com-
^"^First published anonymously: reprinted by the American Mil-
lenial Association (n. d.) with trifling changes, and attributed to
Pearson.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 431
promise between a church hymnal and a gospel song book;
"some old melodies of which were favorites in the great
Advent movement of 1840-44" giving interest to the latter
department.
The three remaining sects of Adventists are very small.
It will be sufficient to mention as recent rather than eminent
The Christian Hymnal (Plymouth, Ind. 1887), edited by
James W. Wilson for The Churches of God in Christ Jesus,
better known as "Age-to-come Adventists." A candid
review of Adventist Hymnody compels the conviction that
both the original "Midnight Cry," the later "Waiting
Church" and "the new Dawn," which are its special themes,
have found far more adequate treatment elsewhere.
5. Mormon Hymns (1830-1891)
The Mormon movement was practically contemporaneous
with Millerism, and was also prolific in hymns. In July
of the same year in which the Book of Mormon was pub-
lished (1830) came a "revelation through Joseph the Seer"
to Emma Smith: — "It shall be given thee also to make a
selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given thee, which is
pleasing unto me, to be had in my church; for my soul
delighteth in the song of the heart, yea, the song of the
righteous is a prayer unto me." ^°^ This revelation and
inspirational hymn writing was at one with the visions,
ministries of angels, tongues, healings, miracles, which sup-
ported the unique claim of Mormonism to supernatural
origin. Several early hymn books followed : A Collection
of sacred Hymns (New York, 1838), and one at Nauvoo
(then the principal seat) in 1841 ; A Collection of sacred
Hymns adapted to the faith and views of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Compiled by John
Hardy (Boston: Dow and Jackson's press, 1843; reprinted,
Voree, 1849) ; A Collection of sacred Hymns for the
^^The doctrine and covenants . . . given to Joseph Smith, jun., the
Prophet, ed. Salt Lake City, 1883, p. 136.
432 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. By Sidney
Rigdon (Pittsburgh, 1845) ^^"^^ o"^ ^i^h similar title by
Charles A. Adams (Bellows Falls, 1845),
The principal interest attaches to a collection made for
the important English mission which became so great a
feeder to the denomination in America, with a preface
signed by Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, and John
Taylor (Manchester, 1840; 8th ed., Liverpool, 1849; nth,
Liverpool, 1856; 13th, Liverpool, 1869). It was printed
in Utah for the first time as Sacred Hymns and Spiritual
Songs, for the use of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints. Fourteenth edition (Salt Lake City: George
Q. Cannon, 1871 ; 20th ed., with additions, 1891).
The Mormon hymn book is an exception to the rule of
dulness governing sectarian Hymnody. Its interest is not
in the familiar hymns of worship {e. g. "Sweet is the work,
my God, my King") or of experience {e. g. "God moves in a
mysterious way"), though these take a new color from
their surroundings. The interest of the Mormon Hymnody
is its intense sectariansm. The Mormon history reads like
a romance rather than a reality; and the hymn book pre-
sents almost every phase and important event of that
history as imbedded in contemporaneous hymns or songs
that are at worst human documents and that often rise to
the level of effective song. We thus have: —
"The Spirit of God like a fire is burning I
The latter-day glory begins to come forth i"^"*
one of the hymns with which the first Mormon elders accom-
panied their preaching from town to town, and which cast
something like a spell upon emotional hearers :
"Adieu to the city where long I have wandered
To tell them of judgments and warn them to flee;"
Elder P. P. Pratt's lamentation over New York in 1838, on
'"No. 244 (ed. 1891, W. W. Phelps) ; and cf. T. B. H. Stenhouse,
The Rocky Mountain Saints, New York, 1873, pp. i, 2.
EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA 433
leaving it to its prophesied ruin : the song of Exodus, —
"The shepherds have lifted their sweet warning voice,
And called us to flee to the land of God's choice:"^'
and those of the march; such as
"We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away in the West :" ''"'
the elegy of the murdered prophet, —
"He's free! he's free! the Prophet's free:""'
the visions of Zion among its hills, beneath the flag of its
temporal sovereignty, —
"O Saints, have ye seen o'er yon mountain's proud height,
The day-star of promise so brilliantly beaming!
Its rays shall illumine the world with its light,
And the ensign of Zion, exultingly streaming:"""'
and last the appealing song of the Church at home, —
"In thy mountain retreat, God will strengthen thy feet ;
On the necks of thy foes thou shalt tread ;
And their silver and gold, as the Prophets foretold.
Shall be brought to adorn thy fair head.
O Zion! dear Zion! home of the free,
Soon thy towers shall shine with a splendor divine.
And eternal thy glory shall be." ^''
Many of the songs that enlivened the Mormon pilgrim-
age are naturally omitted from their book of worship, and
of the hymns of Mormon doctrine the most peculiar has
been dropped from later editions : —
"The God that others worship is not the God for me;
He has no parts nor body, and cannot hear or see; . . ."
(2) "A Church without a Prophet is not the Church for me."
(5) "The Heaven of sectarians is not the heaven for me.""'"
The Hymnody of Zion has played a great part in the
"'Hymn 305 (W. Ross).
'"'Hymn 47, stanza 3 (W. Clayton).
""Hymn 290, stanza 4 (J. Taylor).
'"'Hymn 58 (P. P. Pratt).
""Hymn 316, stanza 3 (C. W. Penrose) sung to "Lily Dale." "No
words can express the electrifying influence of this song upon a
Mormon audience." Stenhouse, op. cit., p. 374.
""No. 297 (Anon.) of the edition of 1871.
434 THE ENGLISH HYMN
upbuilding of Mormonism, as by its virility and contagious
enthusiasm it was well fitted to do. It appropriates the
whole history of Israel and in enshrining historical occasion
resembles the Old Testament Psalter. It has been naturally
a Hymnody apart from that of the historic Church, from
which it has borrowed to some extent, and from which it
does not differ so far as the manner of using hymns in
worship is concerned.
. CHAPTER IX
THE HYMNODY OF THE ROMANTIC
MOVEMENT
THE LITERARY HYMN
The early years of the XlXth century saw that revival of
Romanticism which gave new life and wealth, new^ themes
and methods, to English Poetry. Hymnody at its worst
lies within the realm of verse, and is likely to reflect the
poetic ideals and lyrical manner of its time. But English
Hymnody caught from the Romantic Movement much more
than a reflection or even an enrichment : it took an impulse
and direction that permanently modified it and will in the
judgment of some eventually transform it.
If Shelley's unmoral attitude of artistic elevation had
been the standpoint of the new movement, it might doubtless
have come and gone with no perceptible influence on Hym-
nody. The actual conditions were such as to induce The
Eclectic Review to say that "either poetry is growing more
religious, or religion more poetical." ^ Among the leaders
Coleridge had his "Religious Musings" and "Hymn before
Sunrise," Wordsworth his Ecclesiastical Sonnets, Scott his
"Hymn of Rebecca" and Dies Irae, Moore his Sacred Songs,
and even Byron his Hchrczv Melodies. And from the lesser
poets and the general chorus came a copious outpouring of
sacred song. As early as 1799 Thomas Gisborne published
his Poems sacred and moral, appending his hymns in 1803.
Joseph Dacre Carlyle's Poems appeared in 1805, and Sir
Tor Octol)er, 1825.
435
436 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Robert Grant printed the first of his hymns in The Christian
Observer in 1806. Ann and Jane Taylor pubHshed Hymns
for the Nursery in 1806, and Hymns for Infant Minds in
1809. In 1807 Southey edited the Remains of Henry Kirke
White. In 1809 Reginald Heber printed his Palestine, and
between 181 1 and 1816 many of his hymns. Mrs. Hemans
began her essentially religious verse in the volume of 1812,
and James Edmeston in The Search (181 7) and Sacred
Lyrics (1820) began his voluminous hymn writing. James
Montgomery published his Songs of Zion in 1822, and The
Christian Psalmist in 1825; John Bowring his Matins and
Vespers in 1823, and his Hymns in 1825 ; Thomas Grenfield
his The Omnipresence of God in 1824; Bernard Barton his
Devotional Verses, and Caroline Bowles Southey her Soli-
tary Hours, in 1826.
Then came the remarkable year 1827, in which appeared
John Keble's The Christian Year, Robert Pollok's The
Course of Time, James Montgomery's The Christian Poet,
the posthumous Hymns of Bishop Heber with those of
Henry Hart Milman, and The Union Collection of Hymns
and sacred Odes edited by John Curtis.
Of the leaders of the Romantic Movement whom we
have named all but Shelley have been given some place in
the hymn books, though, except for Moore, their voluntary
contribution to Hymnody was small. Coleridge wrote a
carol, a hymn for Christ's Hospital and two or three more.-
Wordsworth wrote "The Labourer's Noon-day Hymn"
("Up to the throne of God is borne"), and was much grati-
fied to learn of its use in a village school.^ Some of
Byron's Hebrew Melodies were so closely akin to hymns
as to draw from friends a laughing comparison with Stern-
hold and Hopkins.'*
"His "Child's Evening Prayer" is in Dr. James Martineau's hymn
books.
'Wordsworth, Poetical Works, Globe ed., 1888, p. 731, note.
*Moore's Works of Lord Byron, 1832, vol. iii, p. 190. Three of the
Melodies have found place in hymn books.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 437
However casual the hymn writing of these greater poets,
the influence of their example in allying poetry with the
themes of religion took shape in a deliberate effort of many
lesser poets and verse makers to put poetic feeling and
literary art at the service of Hymnody. In the series of
their publications already noted, and thenceforward, we
have a new school of hymn writers, consisting of poets who
do not hesitate to work in the hymnic form, and of hymn
writers who aim to produce hymns that shall make the
impression of poetry. And we have a new type of hymn, —
the Poetic Hymn one is tempted to call it; but in view of
variance in the quality and degree of inspiration and of the
uncertain criteria of poetry, safety lies in regarding it as
the Literary Hymn. The Literary Hymn may be described
as one in which heightened feeling seeks to confine an im-
pression of some reality of religion within the limits of the
hymn form. The Poetic Hymn is simply the Literary
Hymn at its highest, in which the spirit of pure devotion,
apart from didactic or utilitarian ends, reveals the essential
poetry of our infinite relationships. There was thus within
the limits and under the inspiration of the Romantic Move-
ment in English Poetry a distinctive Literary Movement in
English Hymnody.
II
REGINALD HEBER'S ROMANTIC HYMNAL
(1827)
The hymns of Reginald Heber, if not actually the very
earliest, were the first to reveal the full scope of the new
departure; and in inaugurating and giving direction to the
new mo\ement he was unquestionably the leader.
Helper's correspondence shows him in 1809 purposing to
introduce hymn singing at Hodnet as a novelty calculated to
increase the attendance at the parish church, and inquiring
as to the purchase of a supply of Olncy Hymns, for some
438 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of which he expresses great admiration.^ He speaks of
them as Cowper's, and it seems improbable that his admi-
ration covered many of Newton's.
In TJie Christian Observer for October, 1811, Heber, over
the initials "D. R.," published four original hymns as speci-
mens of a proposed series to be sung between the Nicene
Creed and sermon on the Sundays and principal holy days
of the year; the themes of the hymns to be more or less
connected with the epistle and gospel for the day. In a
prefatory note he calls attention to the fulsome, indecorous
or erotic language found in "popular collections of sacred
poetry," and claims for his own hymns no more than their
freedom from such profanities, except that in alluding to
them he calls them "poems." He printed additional hymns
in subsequent numbers of TJie Christian Observer down to
May, 18 12, and a few more in January, 181 6.
The hymns thus appearing represented Heber's personal
contribution to a hymn book he had projected on distinctly
literary lines ; a hymn book that should be in reality "a col-
lection of sacred poetry." From the work of earlier hymn
writers he made selections from Drummond, Ken, Dryden,
Addison, Pope, Cowper, and also (unrecognized by himself)
from Watts and Charles Wesley. But he proposed that his
book should represent the great lyrical development of the
contemporary school of Romantic poets. To the picturesque
and ringing melodies of Scott, Byron, Moore and Campbell,
he conceived his own hymns. And he eagerly sought the
co-operation of Scott, Southey, Milman and others of his
literary friends f though securing actual contributions from
Milman alone.'''
Rumors, more or less vague, of this projected hymnal of
the poets, spread not only in England but, through the Epis-
''Life of Reginald Heber, by his Widow ; ed. New York, 1830, vol. i,
P- 334-
'Life, ii, 26, 30, 57.
'It needs to be recalled that Milman was one of the most popular
of the Romantic poets, receiving five hundred pounds each for his
three religious dramas.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 439
copal periodicals, in America. Muhlenberg in the preface
of his Church Poetry, 1823. doubts if the project will ever
be realized, and from his exangelical standpoint heartily
disapproves of it. The harps of Southey, Scott and Moore,
he says, "have not been tuned to the songs of Zion."
For this Romantic hymnal Heber sought the imprimatur
of the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
To that end he entered in 1820 into correspondence with the
Bishop of London,^ to whom he submitted the manuscript in
its incomplete state. He secured the Bishop's sympathy and
admiration, but also his judgment that the time was not ripe
for an authorized hymnal.^ This manuscript Heber took
with him to India, purposing its immediate publication for
use there; an act from which his sudden end debarred him.
In the year after his death the book was published at Lon-
don by his widow as Hymns, written and adapted to the
weekly church service of the year. By the Right Rev.
Reginald Heber, D.D., late Lord Bishop of Calcutta.
London: John Murray, Alhemarle-street. MDCCCXXVU ;
with a permitted dedication to the Archbishop of Canter-
bury. Murray brought it out not in the form of a hymn
book but as a wide-margined octavo with uncut edges, bound
in gray boards, uniform with his presentation of the new
poems of Byron and others on his list. It was reprinted in
India and at New York ;^*^ and many times at London, both
sumptuously and in more compact form for use in parochial
worship.
The book contained 57^* hymns by Heber, and 12 by
Milman. It became and has remained self evident that
Hymnody had a great accession in the work of Heber and
Milman. It is claimed for Heber, what could be claimed
for no other considerable English hymn writer, that every
hymn he wrote is to-day in common use.^^
76id., ii, 21-29. *Ibid., ii, 28.
"G. & C. Carvill, io8 Broadway, 1827.
"One was added in the edition of 1828.
"Cf. W. G. Horder, The Hymn Lover, Londoin, n. d., p. 145.
440 THE. ENGLISH HYMN
Upon the development of the EngHsh Hymn itself Heber's
influence was quite as marked. His book offered a new
standard of Hymnody; that of a pure but carefully re-
strained devotion accommodated to the church year, and
expressed in flowing rhythms with poetic grace and orna-
ment. The novelty of the proposal is best apprehended by
taking a retrospective view of the development of the Eng-
lish Hymn.
Dr. Johnson in his Life of Waller had divorced religion
and poetry, on the ground that the Intercourse of the soul
with God was in a realm above and beyond poetry, and an
attempt to give it poetical expression necessarily failed.
Pious verse might be useful to assist the memory, but there
was no religious poetry. With differing views, but prac-
tically on these lines, Dr. Watts laid out the model of the
modern English Hymn. He aimed at casting the ordinary
speech of plain people into metrical form to assist their
devotions. He wrote pious verses, and when he rose to
poetry it was unconsciously. And he transmitted to a school
of writers, and established throughout Dissent, an ideal of
Hymnody that shrank from free rhythm and poetic eleva-
tion. Charles Wesley set aside the Watts model and also the
ordinary bonds of spiritual restraint, and poured out from a
surcharged heart his inmost thoughts and feelings in a voice
naturally musical. His rapid, impulsive work greatly modi-
fied the ideal of the Hymn in tone and form, and in contents.
But his work was spontaneous, and its motive was not liter-
ary, and at the time perhaps only his brother realized that
at certain moments it attained the spirit and vesture of
poetry. The Evangelicals made use of both the dissenting
and the Methodist models, inclining on the whole to Dr.
Johnson's ideal of pious verse that would be useful. Of
their movement indeed nothing could be less characteristic
than any effort to balance or to reconcile the claims of
religion and of culture. Cowper was their only poet, and
his hymns were simply the natural and sincere expression
of very deep religious feeling. Of the Evangelical hymn
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 441
writers contemporaneous with Heber, the most outstanding
and voluminous was Thomas Kelly, whose earnest evan-
gelical preaching was repressed by the Archbishop of
Dublin, and who became a dissenter. He began to publish
his hymns in A Collection of Psalms and Hymns extracted
from various authors, by Thomas Kelly (Dublin, 1802).
This was followed by Hymns on various passages of Scrip-
ture (Dublin, 1804-1812) and Hymns by Thomas Kelly
(1815-1853). Moderate and fluent, sometimes attaining
excellence and utility, one is hardly conscious of any direct
influence upon Kelly of the great contemporaneous outburst
of English poetry. As a whole he cultivated rather the
commonplace, and over the area of his 765 hymns he beat
it out to palpable thinness.
But with James Montgomery there is a change. He may
be accounted as a minor member of the current Romantic
school, and even in that great day he created and retained
a provincial dissenting public for his musical verse. In the
preface to his Christian Psalmist (Glasgow, 1825), he com-
bats Johnson's theory of sacred poetry and Watts' theory of
the Hymn, and criticizes the "negligence, feebleness, and
prosing" ^^ of current Hymnody. But he is able to gather
461 hymns, apart from his own, as up to his standard. And
the collection as a whole shows the actual standard to be that
of a refined edification. This indeed was the line of Mont-
gomery's excellent work for Hymnody. He helped to
refine the taste of the dissenting churches especially; at the
same time keeping the Hymn close to Scripture and true to
the ends of edification. Montgomery himself wrote hymns
worthy of a place in the poetical anthology, but he did not
make an anthology of his hymn book.^^
Heber's Hymns appeared two years later than Mont-
"p. xxii.
"Of Montgomery's 400 hymns one quarter have been in common
use. Of the Hymn tj-pe the best are perhaps "Angels from the realms
of glory," "Hail to the Lord's Anointed" and "Go to dark Gethsemane" :
of the Devotional Poetry type, "For ever with the Lord" has been most
loved, and "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire" most used.
442 THE ENGLISH HYMN
gomery's Christian Psalmist, but both his hymn writing
and his project for reforming Hymnody antedated Mont-
gomery's. In any case he was the first to propose making
the current taste in poetry the touchstone of Enghsh hymns.
His poetic standard was new — that of the Romanticists, and
he apphed it with a frankness and consistency of which
Montgomery woukl not have dreamed. He was thus the
founder of a movement to subject Enghsh Hymnody to
the hterary motive.
Heber's and Milman's own work illustrates both the
strength and the limitations of the new movement. It at-
tains instant success in such a hymn of adoration of the
Triune God as "Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty!"
upon a height where the poet's is the only human voice one
cares to hear. It succeeds almost as well in the descriptive
hymn, celebrating the events chronicled in the Christian
Year. But in the hymn of spiritual experience the literary
motive seems to invite inquiry whether its intrusion has
lowered the spiritual temperature, and wdiether its welcome
involves any sacrifice of spiritual reality or depth. It is
of course an open question whether or not these hymns
trenched upon the domain of Devotional Poetry as distinct
from Hymnody proper. But on the wdiole they appear to
have justified themselves. And the acceptance of them by
the Church established a new type of hymn, with the spirit
and expression of lyrical poetry, a conscious literary motive,
and an untrammelled metrical development. One of Heber's
hymns, "The Son of God goes forth to war," seems to
reflect the wdiole course of the development of the English
Hymn. Its lyric virility is in such contrast to the plodding
strains that preceded it, the first impression it created so
novel, until, this wearing off, it became a standard hymn
in all the Churches, only to be questioned at last by a new
spirit uprisen in the Churches, and recast by Samuel Long-
fellow in his "God's trumpet wakes the slumbering w^orld" :
and who shall say whether in the course of the XXth
century, the recast may not shelve the original?
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 443
III
THE LITERARY MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND
We have now to trace the hindrances and progress of
the Literary Movement thus inaugurated,
I. In the Church of England
I. It IS Overshadowed by the Liturgical Movement
The immediate influence of Heber's Hymns did not so
much at¥ect the standard as the status of the Hymn. It
marked the turning of the tide of hymn singing in the
Church of England. Heber's accompHshments and position
and death had made his a great name. He was a Tory and
a churchman of opposite tendencies to those of the Evan-
gehcals. Moreo\er his hymns were beautiful and also made
the fullest recognition of the holy days of the liturgical
year. All this went far to recommend hymn singing to the
circles in which Heber had moved. His influence was very
great in removing from that ordinance the reproach of
dissent and even the flavor of Evangelicalism.^^
The vogue of Heber's Hymns as a hymnal was very
limited. His ambitious scheme of furnishing an "author-
ized hymnal" had failed, and was not to be revived. Its
inexpediency was admitted by Milman himself in The Quar-
terly Reviezv,'^^ and in 1837 he published his own A Selec-
tion of Psalms and Hymns adapted to the use of the Church
of St. Margaret, JVestminster, of which he was rector.
And certainly Heber's collection was unfitted for any such
position as was hoped for: the lack of available tunes was
decisive in itself.
And it had no successor of its own type. Heber's in-
fluence operated as leaven gradually permeating the Ijody
of Hymnody. but it was not able to establish his ideal of a
"C/. a paper, "Hyuiiis for Public Worship" (by Jno. Mason Neale)
in The Christian Remembrancer for January, 1843, p. 46.
'"For July, 1828.
444 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Romantic Hymnal. The hymn book making of the suc-
ceeding years took another turn under an influence stronger
even than Heber's. For the eventful year 1827 had seen
the publication not only of his Hymns, but of Keble's The
Christian Year, foreshadowing the rise of the Oxford
Movement and of a corresponding Liturgical school of
Hymnody. The two books stand together at the beginning
of a new period in English Hymnody, and mark the two
lines of its development in the XlXth century as Literary
and Liturgical. But the two lines are not parallels that
never approach. Heber, in accommodating Hymnody to
the Prayer Book and in suggesting a reversion to Latin
Hymns/^ was something of an influence toward a Liturgical
Hymnody, and Kel)le was certainly an influence in raising
the literary standard of Hymnody.
Nor did Heber's ignoring of any distinction between the
Metrical Psalm and the Hymn affect the addiction to psalm
singing in the Church ; and the compromise period of Psalms
and Hymns went on for many years. His influence told,
however, in favor of a more "poetical" Psalter. Miss
Harriet Auber in her The Spirit of the Psalms (London:
Cadell, 1829) tried to put "elegance" and "poetic language"
into a new version of selected Psalms, accompanied by
original^^ and select hymns of literary quality. John Keble
followed somewhat regretfully in his The Psalter or Psalms
of David; in English verse; by a member of the University
of Oxford (Oxford, 1839). Henry Francis Lyte of Brix-
ton, a minor poet in two senses, contributed both to Literary
Hymnody and to an improved Psalmody in his Poems
chiefly religious (London, 1833), and The Spirit of the
Psalms (1834).^'' But the progress of the Oxford Move-
"His Hymns included three of the versions of Latin hymns some-
times attributed to William Drummond.
''Her "Our blest Redeemer, ere He breathed" appeared in this
volume.
"His "Abide with me ; fast falls the eventide" appeared in his
Remains (London, 1850).
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 445
ment so absorbed men's minds and so turned their thoughts
from the Psalter to the Prayer Book as to quench their
desire for an improved Psalmody in the new stream of a
Liturgical Hymnody.^^ Henry Latham's elaborate Antho-
logia Davidica (London: Rivington, 1846) was confess-
edly an attempt to revivify a lapsed ideal.
The Literary Hymn became also a matter of comparative
unconcern at a time when the hymn books were thus made
the special embodiment of the sacramental theology and
church principles of the Oxford party, and of ditTering or
opposing views in the other parties into which the Church
was dividing. To the extreme high church partv the
Literary Hymn as exemplified in Heber's collection was as
much an offence as the Evangelical Hymn itself. To one
of its leaders, John Mason Neale in 1843, ^^ seemed "won-
derful both that [Heber] should have made such a collec-
tion, and that it should have taken such hold, even for a
time, on the public mind." ^^ He found the metres fantas-
tical, the poetic merit slight, the tone more fitted to the
drawing-room than the church.
The Literary Hymn found its opportunity for church
use in an occasional parish collection, and a wider oppor-
tunity in the Public School hymn books which make some-
thing like a separate department of Church of England
Hymnody.^^ They began with Psalms and Hymns for the
use of Rugby School Chapel in Arnold's time, followed in
1855 by (Dean) Vaughan's Hymns for the Chapel of
Harrow School, by Psalms and Hymns for use in the
Chapel of Marlborough College (1856), for Repton
(1859), Wellington (i860), CHfton (1863), Sherburne
(1867), Uppingham (1874) and Rossall (1880). The
books vary in churchliness from the simplicity of Rugby's
to the Breviary-like collection of Dr. (Archbishop) Benson
'"C/. preface to Anthologia Davidica, p. 2.
^'Christian Remembrancer, Jan., 1843, p. 46.
"For bibliography and descriptions see Julian, Diet, of Hymnology,
pp. 936 ff.
446 THE ENGLISH HYMN
for Wellington; and in the case of the older schools the
early books are only the first of a series changing with the
times. But naturally there is none which does not suggest
literary culture and does not contain hymns chosen for
their literary beauty; the Marlborough series being quite
conspicuous in these respects.
2. A Later Literary School (1862-1899)
It was a fondness for hymns as "a copious and interest-
ing branch of popular literature" that led Roundell Palmer,
later Lord Selborne, to compile his famous The Book of
Praise from the best English hymn writers (Macmillan,
1862). The then novel work upon the text and history of
the hymns done for this book by Daniel Sedgwick gave it
an interest and importance to which the editor's selection
of materials perhaps hardly entitled it. But it served for
a generation or two as the popular presentation of English
Hymns as "mere literature," and afforded Matthev/ Arnold
a handy butt for his gift of teasing. From this book John
Hullah arranged A Hymnal, cJiiefly from "The Book of
Praise" (Macmillan, 1868) and by him set to music. This
must no doubt be regarded as a literary Hymn Book, the
first since Heber's, and like it in ineffectiveness for church
use. The voluminous Hymnologia Christiana (London,
1863) was also especially hospitable to the Literary Hymn,
and if still ineffective served many compilers as a convenient
source book. Some 200 contributions of the editor, Ben-
jamin Hall Kennedy, entitle him to a minor place among
hymn writers.
A better writer, Godfrey Thring, a rector in Somerset,
began to publish hymns in 1866, and in looking over the
field reached the conclusion that "nearly all the hymnals
which have obtained any large circulation have chiefly owed
that circulation to the fact of their having been put forward
by avowed representatives, or those who were supposed to
be representatives, of different parties in the Church." -^
"Preface of 1880.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 447
As a protest "against this system of party hymn-books"
which ine\'itably deprived congregations of the use of some
of the best hymns, he conceived and published A Church
of England Hymn Book adapted to the daily services of
the Church throughout the year (London: Skeffington,
1880).
This was not a Hterary hymn book as opposed to a
Hturgical one, but rather a hturgical hymn book with full
provision for every occasion and kind of worship and with
a literary standard higher than any hymn book of its time.
It was a revelation of what skill and judgment and good
taste could do for the improvement of Hymnody when not
perverted by the spirit of party.-"* And yet the doctrinal
attitude of Thring's book could not have been unacceptable
to those using Hymns ancient and modern with a literary
standard so much lower, and it is to be regretted that the
vogue of the latter prevented Thring's collection from be-
coming the Church of England Hymn Book in reality.
As a hymn writer Thring belongs to the Literary school
as contrasted with the subjective and didactic method of
the Evangelicals, the close adherence to Scripture in so
many earlier writers and in Bishop Wordsworth among
his contemporaries, and the tendency toward liturgical
verse in the Liturgical school. "From the Eastern moun-
tains" represents his lyrical facility; "Saviour, blessed
Saviour" his hopeful spirit; "Jesus came, the heavens ador-
ing" his strength; and "The radiant morn hath passed
away" his tenderness.
Most of the contemporary hymn writers in the Church
of England belong on the liturgical side, through their
connection with the Oxford Movement. On the literary
side Dean Stanley was the most conspicuous. His hymns
originally appeared in Macmillan's Magazine. All of them
(13) were gathered in TJie Westminster Abbey Hymn Book
(London, 1883) which was a tribute to his memory. But
"^For a glimpse of the book in its making see H. Housman, John
Ellerton, S. P. C. K., 1896, pp. 92-97.
448 THE ENGLISH HYMN
in truth they added little to his literary reputation or to
the store of available hymns.
Of the hymnals that followed it the 1889 edition of
Hymns ancient and modern aimed once more at a liturgical
rather than a literary standard, while the 1890 edition of
Bishop Bickersteth's The Hymnal Companion might almost
be called a "literary hymnal." These will be noticed in
another connection. It remains to notice an unique episode
with which the literary history of Church of England
Hymnody in the XlXth century closes.
Dr. Robert Bridges, a poet of repute and later the
Laureate, interested himself in Congregational Song and
took charge of that of the village of Yattendon. For its
use he prepared and published sumptuously The Yattendon
Hymnal (Clarendon Press, 1899), containing 100 hymns
set to music of a very high order for 4-part unaccompanied
singing, of which 44 were of his own workmanship as
author or translator. Its way was prepared in a paper on
"Some principles of Hymn-singing," ^^ and the hymns
were published separately as Hymns from the Yattendon
Hymnal, by Robert Bridges, with notice of the tunes for
which they were written (Oxford: Daniel Press, 1899).
The special purpose of this interesting experiment was to
revive certain church melodies, notably those of The
Genevan Psalter, and to provide hymns worthy of them.
The results cannot as yet be judged. Thirteen of Bridges'
hymns and versions were included in The English Hymnal;
two of which at least, "The King, O God, his heart to Thee
upraiseth" and "The duteous day now closeth," have at-
tracted attention to their signal beauty. One of its editors,
the Rev. Percy Dearmer,^^ regards Bridges' hymns as "the
advance-guard of a movement which will lead the English-
man of the future to read hymn books for the poetry that is
in them." But the decision in such a matter lies with the
"°In The Journal of Theological Studies, October, 1899, and sepa-
rately, Oxford, 1901.
'"In the London Daily Mail.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 449
people, who have not hitherto responded heartily to the
elevated appeal of Bridges' verse.
II. James Martineau Provides Unitarians with a
"Poetry of Pure Devotion" (1840)
A movement to improve the literary materials of worship
was congenial to the Unitarian mind, and the appropriation
of the new hymns began in John Hamilton Thom's A
Selection of Hymns for Christian worship (Liverpool,
1836), supplementing an earlier one made by Roscoe for
the Renshaw Street congregation. In this he made large
use not only of Montgomery, Heber and Milman, but also
of Keble's Christian Year. But the new Hymnody reached
the body of the people very largely through the filter of
one brilliant and devout mind, that of James Martineau.
With his profound interest in Hymnody and his ever grow-
ing influence it may be said that from 1840 to the end of
the century Unitarian Praise was in the main moulded by
his hand.
He first felt his way, while a pastor in Dublin, with A
Collection of Hymns for Christian worship (1831) com-
piled for his own people from inadequate materials. But
in Hymns for the Christian Church and Home. Collected
and edited by James Martineau. Printed for the editor;
and sold by John Green, 121, Newgate Street, London,
1840, he deliberately aimed at a Poetic hymnal. A remark-
able preface discloses his point of view : —
"Worship is an attitude our nature assumes, not for a purpose
[i. e. of being efficacious with God or beneficial to man], but from an
emotion. From this natural view of worship springs sacred poetry.
Every spontaneous utterance of a deep devotion is poetry in its essence,
and has only to fall into lyrical form to be a Hymn. No expression
of thought or feeling that has an ulterior purpose (i. e. instruction,
exposition, impression) can have the spirit of poetry; but always misses
the true lyrical character and furnishes only rhymed theology, versified
precepts or biblical descriptions, capable of being sung but merely
hiding their didactic spirit under the borrowed style of poetry."
Watts would have felt concerned to know that the appli-
450 THE ENGLISH HYMN
cation of this poetic touchstone left him at the head of
Enghsh Hymnody, with Doddridge and Montgomery closely
following. Of the Romantic poets Martineau passed over
Byron and Moore and included Wordsworth (2), Cole-
ridge (i), Scott (2), Campbell (i), Montgomery (56),
Hemans (11), Heber (29), Milman (10), Keble (6), H. K.
White (6) and Bowring (5). The inherent interest of
such an anthology by Martineau was greatly impaired by
his conviction that the "dogmatic theology" of Christian
poetry was an accident and not an essential of its excellence
and by his alterations of text "to give theologically a trans-
lation but in respect to piety and poetry the precise originals
of the several authors."
For three years the book sold so slowly as to entail a
loss,^''^ but gradually it superseded all earlier collections.
The hymn books of subsequent years were for local use.
J. H. Thom would not allow his Hymns, Chants and
Anthems (Liverpool, 1858) to be advertised, lest it seem
to compete with Dr. Martineau's.^^ The most interesting
of the local books was William J. Fox's Hymns and
Anthems (London, 1841) to which Sarah F. Adams con-
tributed "Nearer, my God, to Thee" and other hymns,
and which enrolled Chaucer, Shakespeare, Shelley and
Browning among its contributors.^''
After the third of a century had passed Dr. Martineau
perceived a great change in the spirit and complexion of
broad church piety. It was "disposed to loosen itself even
from sacred history" and to walk with God "in a present
that is divine." He thought that the critical studies had
killed the appeal of older hymns dealing with Scripture
incident, and that the new generation demanded "the poetry
of the inner life," identifying "Christianity with the reli-
^'J. Drummond, Life and Letters of James Martineau, New York,
1902, vol. i, p. 112.
''His letter in The Spectator for Jan. 23, 1902.
'*For this curious book see R. Garnett, The Life of W. J. Fox,
London, 1910, pp. 218 flf.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 451
gion of Christ in its pure and personal essence." ^*^ To
meet the change he published Hymns of Praise and Prayer.
Collected and edited by James Martineau, LL.l). (Long-
mans, 1874). It had 417 hymns from the earlier collection
and 380 added. Not Watts but Montgomery stands first
with 67 hymns, Charles Wesley following with 58, Watts
with 49. The new Anglican and American Unitarian
sources are alike drawn upon, and the old freedom of
alteration abides "for grave reasons of religious veracity."
Martineau had once more interpreted correctly the spirit
of Unitarian piety and acceptably provided for Unitarian
devotion in a new generation. A musical edition of the
new book appeared in 1876, and it continued in very general
use until the XXth century. This hymnal of "the inner
life" largely disassociated from Scripture records presents
a striking and intended contrast to the contemporaneous
Anglican hymn books devoted more and more to the cele-
bration of the historic events of the gospel, the persons of
the saints and the ordinances of the church.
III. The Baptists Cling to a Homiletical Hymnody
(1827-1879)
It is a forgotten fact that in the very year of publication
of Heber's Hymns John Curtis, a Baptist layman of Bristol,
brought out The Union Collection of Hymns and sacred
Odes, additional to the Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts
(London. 1827), aiming especially to refute Dr. Johnson's
dictum that "contemplative piety could not be poetical."
Curtis made use of Coleridge, Scott, Byron and Moore,
among the Romantic poets, and Heber, Milman, Mont-
gomery, Bo wring, and many more of the new Literary
school of hymn writers. But the book was large and ven-
turous, the selection perhaps not very judicious, and not
calculated to further those homiletical uses of Hymnody
which still dominated Baptist ideals and practice.
••Preface of Dec. i, 1873.
452 THE ENGLISH HYMN
The Particular Baptist A neiv Selection of Hymns
(London, 1828), which in the revision of 1838 became
A Selection of Hymns for the use of Baptist congregations,
and circulated to the extent of a million copies, was a Sup-
plement to Watts of the older evangelical type. The same
is true of TJie General Baptist Hymn Book (1830), but in
their The new Hymn Book (1851 ), more use was made of
the later hymns.
The modern period of Baptist Hymnody begins with the
Particular Baptist Psalms and Hymns . . . prepared for
the use of the Baptist Denomination (London, 1858), and
its supplements, and The (General) Baptist Hymnal of
1879. The compilers of Psalms and Hymns had the assist-
ance of George Rawson, a Congregationallst layman of fine
poetical feeling, and to it he contributed many of his own
hymns. ^^ Both books aimed to elevate the literary standard,
and made large use of the new^ hymn writers, both of the
Literary and Liturgical schools. Mr. Spurgeon's Our own
Hymn Book (1866), made for his Tabernacle but used also
in congregations presided over by his former students,
deserves mention for the breadth of his studies and his
care for the texts of the hymns. Its didactic motive con-
trasts strongly with Dr. Martineau's concern for spontaneity
in worship.
The trustees of Psalms and Hymns and those of The
Baptist Hymnal took part in preparing The Baptist Church
Hymnal: Hymns, Chants, Anthems, with music (London:
Psalms and Hymns Trust, 1900). In this very modern
production the hymns, embedded in a wealth of tunes and
followed by chants and anthems occupying one half of the
volume, seem relatively inconspicuous; and the impression
produced upon the eye is so liturgical that one feels a certain
surprise that the choice and arrangement of the hymns was
not made for liturgical ends. But the selection is a catholic
one, and, while freely employing the Anglican Hymnody,
seeking the best from all sources.
^'Notably "By Christ redeemed, in Christ restored."
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 453
IV. The Enrichment of Congregationalist Hymnody
I, The Ministers of Leeds Break the Watts
Tradition (1853)
The movement to elevate the hterary standard of Con-
gregationaHst Hymnody began with Josiah Conder's The
Congregationalist Hymn Book of 1836.^^ His book was
designed to supplement Watts, and as an editor and hymn
writer he may be said to have occupied common ground
with his friend Montgomery. His 56 hymns contributed
to this collection, with others appearing elsewhere, show an
understanding of the Hymn derived from his study of
Watts, a devout spirit, metrical variety and good literary
expression; and a considerable use is still made of a few
of them.^^
Conder made some use of Heber's hymns, but he felt more
at home with Montgomery's. The quality of elegance and
the alleged defect of that quality in Heber's hymns caused
many then and since to look askance at them. To dis-
senters trained in the school of Watts, and to the Evan-
gelical with sober standards of edification, they seemed to
violate the canons of spiritual simplicity. This feeling is
expressed by Josiah Miller in his Singers and Songs of the
Church : — their ''rhetorical flow and an elevation of manner
and imagery . . . threaten to take them out of the class
of hymns, and rob them of the pious moderation we ordi-
narily expect to meet with in such productions." ^*
Of the books immediately following Conder's, Dr. John
Campbell's The Comprehensive Hymn Book (London,
1841) and Andrew Reed's The Hymn Book (London,
1842), reverted to the old lines. Some of Reed's plain
hymns are still remembered. John Lei f child's Original
^"Chap. iii, pt. Ill, section I, i.
^^ "The Lord is King ! Lift up thy voice," and "How shall I follow
Him I serve" are of his best : "Bread of Heaven, on Thee I feed" is
perhaps most familiar.
^*2nd edition, London, 1869, p. 379.
454 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Hymns (London, 1842) attempted to elevate devotional
poetry with a fresh collection of hymns contributed to it
or hitherto unused. But the opening line, **0 Thou,
uncaused, unseen, immense," was already somewhat dis-
couraging.
Eleven years later appeared Psalms, Hymns, and passages
of Scripture for Christian worship. London, Partridge
and Oakey, 18 j^. Prepared by the Congregational minis-
ters of Leeds, and known as ''The Leeds Hymn Book,"
it drew freely from the old treasury of Latin Hymnody,
the German hymns and the new Church of England writers
both of the literary and liturgical types. It marks the real
transition of Congregationalist Hymnody from the type and
tone given it by Watts into the more catholic-hearted and
yet more selective spirit of modern Hymnody. So great
was its influence that it became in 1859 the basis of The
new Congregational Hymn Book, officially published by
the Congregational Union ; and it may thus be said to have
determined the line of development of the authorized Hym-
nody of its denomination.
2. The Rivulet Controversy (1856)
Among recent writers omitted from the Congregational
Union's new hymn book was one whose hymns had lately
given that body much disquietude. Partly with a view to
occasional use by his congregation in Grafton Street,^^ Lon-
don, Thomas Toke Lynch published in November, 1855,
The Rivulet: a contribution to sacred song (London: R.
Theobald ).^'^ It was welcomed by The Eclectic Review,
but in The Morning Advertiser for January 7, 1856, James
Grant averred that "nearly the whole might have been
written by a Deist" and that it contained "not one particle
of vital religion or evangelical piety" although written by a
^"T. T. Lynch, "Review of the Rivulet Controversy" in The Monthly
Christian Spectator, Nov., 1856, p. 701.
"'2nd ed., 1856; 3rd, enlarged, 1868; 5th ed., 1883.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 455
professed minister of the gospel. ^^ In a later issue The
Eclectic Reviezv was called upon to retract its "incriminated
notice of the book." Instead of which that periodical
printed in its March number a protest by fifteen Congre-
gational ministers^^ expressing their "utter hatred" of the
method and manner of the attack upon Lynch and his book.
With this fuel added to the fire the flame became a confla-
gration. Dr. John Campbell, editor of the Congregational
Union's magazines, diligently fanned the flames, charging
Lynch with contradicting the word of God, defaming the
character of His Son, and giving the lie to the teachings
of His Spirit.^^ Lynch responded in The Ethics of Quota-
tion and Songs controversial: by Silent Long, and several
of the fifteen protesters took a hand in the pamphlet war.
The controversy thus grew into the bitterest theological
strife within the memory of men then living. And it re-
mained open until time settled it in Lynch's favor, leaving,
in the meanwhile, him and his hymns under a cloud of
suspicion in the eyes of thousands who had read the charges
but not the hymns.
Lynch's hymns were novel then and inimitable now in
their curious combination of subtlety and simplicity, their
fresh feeling, their original expression, and their deep ex-
perience. They founded no school, but stand alone, at the
dividing line between Hymnody and devotional verse.
Thomas Binney, their original defender, took pains to say
that they were not adapted to congregational use."**^ Of
many of the finest of them the saying remains true. But
some gradually found their way into hymn books, and the
number in actual use to-day is larger than ever before, and
"The Advertiser articles were reprinted as The Controversy on
important theological questions, London, 1856.
^■'Reprinted in "What's it all about?" or both sides of the "Rivulet"
Controversy, London, 1856, p. 5.
^"Nonconformist Theology, by John Campbell, D.D., London, 1856
(reprinted from The British Banner).
^"Letter To the Members of the Congregational Union, London
[May, 1856], p. 18.
456 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the favor with which they are regarded more general.'*^
"The Rivulet Controversy" is thus at last decided.
3. The Advance toward Heber's Ideal: Loss and
Gain (1859- 1887)
The Congregational Union's first hymnal was published
in 1859, to be followed by a successor in 1887. Between
these two dates the independent work of three men deserves
notice.
Dr. Henry Allon had a share in the first book, and pub-
lished Supplemental Hymns in 1868 (enlarged, 1875),
Children s Worship in 1878, and the elaborate The Con-
gregational Psalmist Hymnal in 1886. The Congregational
Psalmist itself, first appearing in 1858, was a tune book of
a high order with scholarly annotations, and with his valu-
able Exeter Hall lectures and his collections of chants,
anthems and children's music, indicates the special line in
which he did much to elevate Congregational Song. The
service of praise at his Union Chapel, Islington, became a
model and an incentive even beyond the bounds of Non-
conformity.^^
The incursion of "Dale of Birmingham" into hymn book
making was a protest against "the sensuous sentimentalism
which had been encouraged by some recent Hymn- writers. "■*•'
He called his collection of 1260 hymns The English Hymn
Book (London, 1874) as seeking the "manly simplicity" of
the national type of faith and feeling and avoiding whatever
in ancient or German or English Hymnody seemed "foreign
and unfriendly" to healthy English tradition and habits.
"The most familiar, "Gracious Spirit, dwell with me," is perhaps
least characteristic. Others are "O where is He that trod the sea,"
"Dismiss me not Thy service, Lord," and "Christ in His word draws
near." The statement of Lynch's biographer in The Dictionary of
National Biography that none of his hymns is popular in the churches
is contrary to observed facts.
*"'See "Union Chapel, Islington," in J. S. Curwen, Studies in Worship
Music, 3rd ed., London, n. d., pp. 365-375.
"Preface.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 457
The motive explains unwelcome omissions and needless
changes, and Dr. Dale's preoccupations explain the careless
texts and the lack of finish and of grace. Its inclusion of
39 hymns from The Golden Chain of Praise (1869) by
Thomas Hornblower Gill, whom Dale regarded as the best
of living hymn writers,^"* called attention to hymns largely
unknown. They have distinction and originality ; a thought-
fulness demanding close reading, aiid a quaintness tending
toward mannerism. ^^ Their unfettered spirit and lack of
churchliness limits their use in one direction, their delicacy
and avoidance of commonplace in another.
Unlike Dale's, the work of W. Garrett Horder has been
that of a life-long student of Hymnology and one who wel-
comes the emotional side of Hymnody. In Herder's
editorial work the Literary Movement comes to its fullest
expression since Heber. "Pious moderation," he wrote in
1889, "has been the curse of hymnody." ^^ "The time is
fast coming," he said in May, 1902, "when no hymn will
be included in our best collections which is not in greater
or less degree the result of the vision and faculty divine."
"To hasten that has been one of the dreams and purposes
of my life." ■*" His work began with The Book of Praise
for Children (London: Lewis, 1875), patterned outwardly
upon Roundell Palmer's Book of Praise. It was followed
by Congregational Hymns (London: Elliot Stock, 1884);
to which there was in 1894 a supplement of Hymns. Supple-
mental to existing collections; and in 1905 appeared a
revised edition as Worship Song with accompanying tunes
(London: Novello). The Hymn Lover. An account of
the rise and growth of English Hynmody (London: Cur-
wen, 1889) may be regarded as a historical companion to
"A. W. W. Dale, Life of K. W. Dale, London, 1898, p. 223.
*^ "Dear Lord and Master mine" early became a favorite. "O mean
may seem this house of clay," and "Our God, our God, Thou shinest
here," are also in wide use.
**The Hymn Lover, p. 145.
*"The Carew Lecture at Hartford in Hartford Seminary Record,
August, 1902, p. 292.
458 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the hymn book. The Treasury of American sacred Song
(Oxford Press, 1896) does for American verse what Pal-
grave had done for the English.
When Congregational Hymns appeared, Frederic M. Bird
said in The Independent that "Dissent never had such a
hymnal as this before"; and we may include both estab-
lishments in the remark. So much of its materials was very
recent that it could not have been compiled much earlier
than it was. And its editor was equally modern in his
indifference to tradition while yet unaffected by the liturgical
tendencies of his time; and thus free to embody his ideals
with no limitations other than those suggested by pastoral
experience. From his point of view his hymn book may
fairly be regarded as the fullest and best yet made.
Regarding this collection as substantially the embodiment
of the aims of the Literary Movement up to the limits of
the present resources of Hymnody, we are in a position to
consider that movement in its tendencies and results.
It became inevitable when once the Churches accepted
such hymns as Heber's "Holy! Holy! Holy!" or even his
"Brightest and best of the sons of the morning." Such
acceptance at once sets up a standard of inevitable com-
parison; and with the dissemination of culture this literary
standard operated by way of the exclusion of materials no
longer regarded as up to the mark. It happens that the
greater part of the material thus winnowed by criticism is
the hymns contributed by the Evangelical school; and thus
the literary standard combines with a changing doctrinal
emphasis to make the share of the old Evangelical Hymnody
a diminishing proportion. In the case of the Congregational
Churches, for instance, Mr. Horder's book completes a trans-
formation of their Hymnody. It had consisted at first of
Watts' Psalms and Hymns alone, and then as supplemented
by hymns of kindred writers and those of the Evangelical
Revival. In Congregational Hymns the contributions of
Watts are 26 in a total of 841, and the other writers of
the old school are treated proportionably.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 459
Here then is the price to be paid for a Literary Hymnody :
one that will be variously appraised. Turning to the gains.
we perceive much that has both strength and beauty, and
deserves a universal welcome. But in much else we hear
the brooding note of culture and encounter a spiritual
"delicacy" that raises the question whether these refined
meditations have the virility of the old hymns to quicken
and maintain a robust and effective faith. This question
yet remains to be answered in a generation that has been
nourished and inspired by a Poetic Hymnody.
Horder's book found a warm welcome and attained wide
use, but did not become the authorized hymnal of the
denomination. The Congregational Union had already, in
1883, determined to make "such further provision for the
service of praise as the new life and methods of the day
required," and committed to the competent hands of George
S. Barrett the preparation of a new hymnal on the lines
of the "Leeds Hymn Book" of 1853 and The new Congre-
gational Hymn Book of 1859, to which there had been a
Supplement as late as 1874. The Congregational Church
Hymnal (London: Congregational Union, 1887) aimed to
distinguish sharply hymns from sacred poems, to preserve
as much as was practicable of the hymns associated with the
history and life of Congregationalism, to draw freely from
the Hymnody of all sections of the Church, to conserve
the original texts of the hymns, and to set them to the best
available tunes under the editing of Dr. E. J. Hopkins.
Less traditional than Dr. Allon's hymnal, more theologically
explicit and less poetic than Mr. Horder's, it filled out the
prospectus with skill and care, and put the authorized Hym-
nody of Congregationalism fully abreast with that of other
Churches both from a literary and musical standpoint.
The Hymnody of Scottish Congregationalism is unim-
portant. Dr. W. Lindsay Alexander's Selection of 1849
continued to be reprinted till quite recent years. The Evan-
gelical Union, formed by the Morisons, published their
Hymn Book in 1856, and a better one in 1878 as The
46o THE ENGLISH HYMN
Evangelical Union Hymnal. John Hunter's "liberal"
Hymns of Faith and Life (Glasgow, 1889) will be noticed
in another connection. The Scottish Congregational Hym-
nal (Edinburgh: Congregational Union, 1903) is a com-
posite book, partly reprinted from The Evangelical Union
Hymnal, and filled out from current English Congregational
hymn books.
IV
THE LITERARY MOVEMENT IN AMERICA
I. "Songs of the Liberal Faith"
I, A Notable Series of Hymn Books (1830-1864)
In America as in England the Unitarians felt most free
to appropriate anything that seemed good, from whatever
source and however novel. It is hence not surprising that
a body including the best blood and highest culture of
Massachussets shared in the Literary Movement, and suc-
ceeded in imparting to its hymn books a freshness of interest
in great contrast to those of orthodox Churches.
Of the hymn books of the '30s the first was Samuel
Willard's Sacred Poetry and Music reconciled; or a Collec-
tion of Hymns, original and compiled (Boston: L. C
Bowles, 1830), in which everything was* subordinated to
the theory that religious impression required "an invariable
coincidence between the poetic and the musical emphasis." ^^
To most people it seemed that the game of trimming the
hymns to fit the theory was not worth the candle, and the
adoption of Willard's book was trifling.
Whether we regard the predilection for Watts as linger-
ing in the free air of Unitarianism with something of the
■force of tradition, or whether we think with Willard that
the love of the old hymns was deliberately revived,'*^ the
"For his theory see the review of his earlier Regular Hymns (1823)
in The Christian Examiner, May, 1824, p. 224.
*''The Christian Examiner, July, 1845, p. 114.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 461
fact remains that both the other hymn books of the '30s
were confessedly based upon "the writings of Watts and
Doddridge." The popular book of the period was A Col-
lection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian worship (Bos-
ton: Carter and Hendee, 1830) by F. W. P. Greenwood of
King's Chapel, which in five years reached a sixteenth
edition, and (with R. C. Waterston's supplement of 1845)^"'
rounded out a fiftieth. Greenwood made much use of Mont-
gomery's Christian Psalmist and Miss Auber's Spirit of
the Psalms, and some of Bowring and Heber, and he may
be said to have introduced Charles Wesley to the Unitarians.
His book had thus freshness as well as familiarity, and its
conveniently arranged 560 hymns were a pleasing contrast
to the cumbersome "Watts' and select" or "Psalms and
Hymns" of other denominations. Tlie Springfield Collection
of Hymns for sacred ivorship. By JVilliam B. 0. Pcahody
(Springfield: Samuel Bowles, 1835) was more pronounced
in its attachment to the old hymns, notably Doddridge's,
and followed Greenwood's lead in using the Wesleyan
Hymns. He exceeded Greenwood in the freedom of altera-
tions and rearrangements he made in the texts to an extent
that evoked criticism even among Unitarians."^
Somewhat aside from the succession of church hymn
books stand two that have a significance of their own. The
Sunday school Hymn Book (Boston, 1833: 4th ed., 1833;
followed by The Sunday school Hymn and Service Book,
1844), was the work of a pioneer among Unitarians.
Lewis G. Pray. The Chapel Hymn Book (Boston, 1836;
4th ed., 1842) was compiled principally by Charles F.
Barnard, who had consecrated his life to help the neglected
children of the poor of Boston. Avoiding hymns pro-
fessedly written for children, he aimed at a simplicity of
thought and expression that would find acceptance in
mission chapels as well as in Sunday schools.
The Christian Psalter: a Collection of Psalms and Hymns
'"It was at that time used by 50 congregations (preface).
"See notice in The Christian Examiner, Sept., 1835, p. I3,'?.
462 THE ENGLISH HYMN
for social and private worship (Boston, 1841) was made
by William P. Lunt for the First Church of Quincy, which
had just celebrated its 200th anniversary. Not unfittingly
the hymn book seeks the older type of Hymnody and avoids
the new; but if old-fashioned it was excellent and service-
able. An interesting feature was 22 pieces from a complete
metrical Psalter and other manuscript devotional poetry
which Mr. Lunt's parishioner, ex-President John Quincy
Adams, put into his hands for such use as he cared to make
of them.^^
Many of the most accomplished men in the denomination
were turning their minds to Hymnody as writers or editors
or both, and from their hands proceeded in the ensuing
years a series of hymn books whose literary interest was
very notable. Dr. James Flint of Salem, in A Collection
of Hymns, for the Christian Church and Home (Boston,
1843 j,'"^" was largely guided in his choice of the older hymns
by the wish of his congregation to retain as many as prac-
ticable from the collection of his predecessor, Dr. Bentley.
But he sought also hymns new or unknown in America,
though failing to acknowledge his indebtedness to James
Martineau's collection, from which he borrowed his title
and much of his materials. Chandler Robbins' The Social
Hymn Book (Boston, 1843) "was avowedly based upon
Watts and Doddridge, but made much use of the Breviary
Hymns and other unfamiliar sources. Prepared for the
vestry and smaller congregations it abounded with devo-
tional feeling and added an appendix of 21 tunes as a novel
feature. Another small collection, The Disciples' Hymn
Book (Boston, 1844) of James Freeman Clarke, greatly
endeared itself to those associated with the new Church of
the Disciples,^^ and indeed appealed to all lovers of sacred
"W. P. Lunt, At the interment of John Quincy Adams, Boston,
1848, p. 60. "He who had occupied the throne of the people was, like
the Hebrew monarch, also a Psalmist in our Israel." Ibid., p. 41.
"^It had an extensive notice in The Monthly Miscellany (1843;
reprinted separately) and in The Christian Examiner, July, 1843.
"See an editorial in the Boston Transcript, August 26, 191 1.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 463
poetry. It had the distinction of introducing "Nearer, my
God, to Thee" into the United States.
Many who wished something more "modern" than
Greenwood's Collection found these books too individual
and also inadequate to the full round of church occasions.
This led to the preparation of Christian Hymns for public
and private worship. A Collection compiled by a committee
of the Cheshire Pastoral Association (Boston, 1846),
which was edited by Abiel A. Livermore. It had more
than 900 hymns, including many by American Unitarian
writers, and sought a greater metrical variety, apparently
to please the choirs. It afforded another proof that while
many people prefer a small hymn book, the preachers de-
mand a full one; and it attained a wide use that called for
no less than sixty editions.
George W. Briggs of Plymouth, like IMartineau, cared
only for the Hymnody of the inner life, and in his Hymns
for public zvorship (Boston, 1845) sought "to bring to-
gether the most fervent expressions of a profound spiritual
life." ^^ He therefore drew more largely than was usual
upon the Wesleyan Hymns, and hymns unknown to the
other collections. Dr. George E. Ellis' A Collection of
Psalms and Hymns for the Sanctuary (Boston, 1845),
was made to take the place of The Springfield Collection,
already out of print, in the Harvard Church. On that and
Greenwood's it was based in the main, though drawing
from a wide range of sources. The "Psalms" were in
prose arranged for antiphonal use : the hymns as a whole
more didactic than in other books of the series now under
consideration.
A Book of Hymns for public and private devotion.
Cambridge: Metcalf and Company, printers to the Univer-
sity, 1846 was prepared by Samuel Longfellow and Samuel
Johnson, while fellow-students at Harvard Divinity School,
and is a landmark in Unitarian Hymnody. The book grew
out of an offer to provide a new hymn book for a young
"See preface.
464 THE ENGLISH HYMN
pastor who found even the recent ones too antiquated.^^
The radical tendencies in theology of the editors were per-
haps suggested rather than embodied. In the large number
of hymns relating to Christ He was still called Lord and
Saviour, and his miracles were emphasized, but the im-
mediate relation of the worshipper to the indwelling Spirit
and the humanitarian aspect of religion were given new
prominence. ^^ The literary motive was predominant, and
all available sources of poetical devotion were industriously
studied. Its advance in a poetical direction has been some-
what overestimated to the disparagement of its predecessors,
but it was quite marked. Newman's "Lead, kindly Light"
was found without name in a newspaper, and printed "Send
kindly light" as it there appeared. Not only English poets
but Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Jones Very, Theodore
Parker, Mrs. Stowe, and others at home were drawn upon ;
and the contributions of the editors themselves were notable.
A breezy freshness and literary charm pervaded the book,
and gave it distinction and importance even in a remark-
able series of hymn books.
The book was at once severely handled and warmly
welcomed. It was first adopted by Edward Everett Hale's
new Church of the Unity at Worcester and then by Theo-
dore Parker's Music Hall congregation f^ though it seldom
replaced the accepted hymn books. It took two years to
exhaust the first edition, at the end of which time it was
revised and reprinted. The editors themselves soon out-
grew its theology, but it left a mark in Hymnody and con-
tributed to its permanent resources.
Hymns of the Sanctuary (Boston, 1849) was prepared
by Cyrus A. Bartol and others as a new edition of the West
Church Collection, and was not unlike Dr. Ellis' hymn book
°°Saml. Longfellow in Lectures, Essays, and Sermons, by Samuel
Johnson, Boston, 1883, p. 30.
"Ibid., p. 31 ; and cf. Joseph May, Samuel Longfellow, Boston, 1894,
p. 51.
"Joseph May, op. cit., p. 52.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 465
of 1845. There seemed books enough. But interest was
aroused by the announcement that Frederic H. Hedge and
Frederic Dan Huntington were collaborating in preparing
a new one. It appeared in handsome form as Hymns for
the Church of Christ (Boston, 1853; 8th 1000, 1861), and
reasonably fulfilled all expectations; being hailed by The
Christian Examiner as "by much the best book of hymns
yet published." The sweep of its catholic spirit included
Breviary Hymns and Toplady's "Rock of Ages" unaltered
on the one hand and the ethical verse of Emerson and
W. J. Fox on the other. It was pervaded by a lofty and
tender spirit of devotion, and maintained a literary standard
of strength and beauty. Convenient for use, and outwardly
comely, it perhaps reached the high-water mark of a full-
tided time. Dr. Hedge's mind was breaking away from
conventional Christianity, while Dr. (afterwards Bishop)
Huntington's was turning toward catholic tradition, and
before leaving Unitarianism he wrote the "Preface to the
Lyra CathoHca" in Caroline Whitmarsh's Hymns of the
Ages (Boston, 1858) ; a volume regarded, not without
reason, by some of the reviews as an exotic in the Cam-
bridge atmosphere.
The only other book of note in the '50s was Chandler
Robbins' Hymn Book for Christian worship (Boston,
1854), an enlargement and freshening of his earlier The
Social Hymn Book, with Watts, Doddridge and Mont-
gomery still in the lead. Dr. Samuel Osgood, a New Eng-
lander in New York, gathered a choice collection of 159
hymns, that was both literary and liturgical, into his Chris-
tian Worship (New York, 1862) ; a service book in which
his preference of the Prayer Book system of worship was
already revealed.
Dr. Osgood's book indicated an individual reversion to
the faith and forms of historic Christianity. An opposite
tendency in New England Unitarianism found two years
later a full expression in Hymns of the Spirit (Boston:
Ticknor and Fields, 1864), the second book of Samuel
466 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Longfellow and Samuel Johnson, which they prepared
while in Europe together to take the place of A Book of
Hymns.^^ Both men had adopted the view-point of uni-
versal religion of which Christianity was at best only an
illustration, passing from Unitarianism into pure theism.
In their new book they aimed to exclude all hymns "which
attributed a peculiar quality and special authority to Chris-
tianity, and recognized a supernatural element in the per-
sonality of Jesus." ^" Longfellow dropped out even the
hymn "Christ to the young man said," written for his ordi-
nation by his brother, because "he would not by that one
name disturb the simplicity of his faith in the one Source of
the soul's higher life." This scheme of a theistic hymn
book involved among other things a great literary loss,
both in the sacrifice of many of the most beautiful hymns
of the earlier book, and in the tinkering of the materials
included. This was partly compensated for by the new
hymns contributed by the editors. For the loss in circula-
tion involved in the changed doctrinal standard the editors
were doubtless prepared.
Comparing this series of hymn books with those in
contemporary use by other denominations, it is obvious
that New England Unitarians led the advance in elevating
the literary standard of American Hymnody; an office for
which their culture and free spirit naturally fitted them.
The books had a common origin in the desire to furnish
a devotional manual expressive of the liberal faith, but their
motive was cultural or literary rather than liturgical. There
was no doubt a liturgical movement in Unitarianism, for
which the modified Book of Common Prayer in use in
King's Chapel afiforded an always available though artificial
precedent. Clarke's, Hedge's, Robbins' and Osgood's hymn
books were accompanied by service books, and Longfellow;
published Vespers in 1859. The Unitarians led also in
appropriating the old Latin hymns: in 1843 Flint intro-
^^Lectures &c. by Samuel Johnson, pp. 61, 62.
""May, Samuel Longfellow, p. 214.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 467
duced four of Chandler's versions of Breviary Hymns
and Robbins twenty of Bishop Mant's. But the spirit of
liturgies is traditional and the spirit of Unitarianism is free,
and where Unitarians developed real liturgical feeling, as
in the cases of Huntington and Osgood, they passed over
into Episcopacy. To the rest the ancient prayers and hymns
were simply literary material to be used so far as attractive
or altered to suit.
Indeed it is this freedom of adaptation that occasioned
the great drawback to an appreciation of a series of hymn
books otherwise so interesting. Unitarians had always
claimed the right to adapt Watts' Psalms and Hymns to
their own views on the ground that if Watts had lived he
would have done so himself. But they proceeded to exer-
cise the same privilege in the case of all hymn writers whose
doctrinal views or religious experience differed from their
own. In the series of books before us this has become so
much a matter of course that only rarely is any note made
of the alterations; the author's name being freely signed to
what he did not write nor perhaps believe. And yet none
was ever quicker than Samuel Johnson to feel the offensive-
ness of such a course as applied to his ovv^n hymns. He
prided himself on having "written calmly to the Reverend
Dr." who in "a Presbyterian Hymn-book" altered "Father"
into **Saviour" in his "Father, in Thy mysterious presence
kneeling." *^^ It is possibly a surprise that several of these
editors should have retained hymns addressed to the
Saviour, including "Jesus, Lover of my soul," and their
omission would under the circumstances occasion no criti-
cism. But the alteration of Charles Wesley's hymn in the
books of Lunt and Bartol and the Cheshire Association
into "Father, Refuge of my soul" is an offence against
literature itself."^
'^^Lectures &c. hy Samuel Johnson, p. 133.
"'Throughout this period The Christian Examiner repeatedly pro-
tested against the prevailing practice. For its views see "Alterations
of Hymns," May, 1862, p. 352.
468 THE ENGLISH HYMN
2. Unitarian Hymnody (1830-1864)
The period of Unitarianism covered by these hymn books
— between the '30s and the Civil War — was precisely the
era of religious debate between the historical and the new
conceptions of Christianity rather than a time of what is
regarded as religious revival. And it is somewhat remark-
able that it should have been characterized by a spirit of
devotion expressed in a great outpouring of hymns, such as
we ordinarily associate with a revival era.
li this was due in part to the influence of Channing,
his spirit at all events found its personal expression in
sermons and not in hymns. But Henry Ware jr. made his
Christian Disciple a vehicle of Hymnody, printing his own
"Lift your glad voices in triumph on high" as early as
1819. Hymns by Andrews Norton, William H. Furness
and others followed, and in 1827 Sarah E. Miles' "Thou,
who didst stoop below."
Of the hymn book editors themselves, Willard, Flint,
W. B. O. Peabody, Pray, Lunt, Hedge, Huntington, Clarke,
Waterston, Robbins, A. A. Livermore, Bartol, Samuel
Longfellow, and Johnson, were also writers of hymns.
Others among the clergy were Samuel Oilman, N. L. Froth-
ingham, William Newell, Stephen G. Bulfinch, Theodore
Parker, Edmund H. Sears, Samuel D. Robbins, Frederic
A. Whitney, Thomas Hill, William R. Alger, and O. B.
Frothingham. Among the laymen were Thomas Gray jr.,
William H. Burleigh, and Samuel B. Sumner. Of women
writers were Eliza Lee Follen, Sarah W. Livermore, Caro-
line Oilman, Louisa 0. Hall, A. R. St. John, Mary W.
Hale, Caroline A. Mason, and Margaret Fuller. Among
Unitarian poets and men of letters who also wrote hymns
were Bryant, Emerson, H. W. Longfellow, O. W. Holmes,
Lowell, Jones Very, Higginson, Charles Sprague, John
Pierpont, Charles T. Brooks, and James T. Fields.
All of these writers have contributed hymns that are
or have been in actual use in Unitarian worship. Of those
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 469
who have enriched the Hymnody of the Church at large,
two names stand apart. Of Dr. Hohnes' hymns, "Lord
of all being, throned afar" and "O Love Divine, that stooped
to share" are classics of devotion. And the hymns of
Samuel Longfellow, however radical his theology, seem to
gain with every year a larger appreciation and a wider use,
due simply to their spiritual beauty and ardor.
In reviewing the body of this new Unitarian Hymnody
its extent is in itself impressive as revealing so widely-felt
an impulse to give devotional expression to the Unitarian
faith. Representing in the main the work of men and
women who were prose writers or preachers rather than
poets, the elevation of manner and the choiceness of literary
expression in the hymns are notable, and show a high com-
mon level of culture and literary ability; though here as
everywhere the divine fire is confined to the chosen few.
In content the hymns are no doubt colored and limited by
the theology of their writers, but are devotional rather than
dogmatic : when the polemical tone is heard, it is in the
later theistic rather than in the earlier Unitarian writers.
We may safely accept from their anthologist his charac-
terization of these "Songs of the liberal faith" :^^
"They reveal, as a class, a strong faith and tender trust in God as
the Father ; a fine appreciation and love of all that is grand and
beautiful in Nature ; a deep conviction that a divine hand is in all
things, and is guiding all things on to a glorious issue and end; a
profound and earnest reverence for Christ, as the Way, the Truth,
and the Life, and a heartfelt recognition of his Cross as the emblem
and pledge of victory; a genuine 'enthusiasm for humanity' and a
sense of the supreme value of a good life, and a large and genial
sympathy and fellowship with all true and faithful souls in every
sect or communion."
The marked contrast of these hymns with the Evangelical
Hymnody is in the type and tone of spiritual experience
they embody, the substitution of a certain spiritual com-
placency for the earlier sense of sin, dependence on the
"•'Alfred P. Putnam, Singers and Songs of the liberal faith, Boston,
1875, p. ix. It contains full selections of the hymns and verse of
American Unitarians, with biographical sketches.
470 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Redeemer and craving for deliverance. George W. Briggs'
resort to "the Wesleyan hymns, and others of a kindred
character" for "the most fervent expressions of a pro-
found spiritual life" has been referred to. One recalls also
how the heart of Dr. Holmes, Unitarian and poet, turned
in his old age to the Evangelical Hymnody, perceiving in
it "the old ring of Saintliness" and the virility he could
not find in the modern hymns. "When I turn to the hymn
book, and when one strikes my eye, I cover the name at the
bottom and guess. It is," he said, "almost invariably either
Watts or Wesley; after them there are very few which
are good for much." ^^ To others it will be just as obvious
that the doctrine and experience of the Evangelical Hym-
nody are outworn, and it will be conceded by all that they
are not "Romantic."
3. Modern Tendencies (1861-1894)
From so much zeal in bettering Unitarian Hymnody the
natural inference would be that Congregational Song
thrived during the period just covered. In fact there was
little congregational singing of any sort, and in the more
cultured congregations none at all. The hymns were an-
nounced and often read by the minister, and were sung by
the choir; the part of the people being as passively receptive
in praise as during the sermon. One of the planks in
Freeman Clarke's platform for the Church of the Dis-
ciples in 1841 was "Congregational Worship" : — "By con-
gregational worship I mean that to some extent the congre-
gation should join in the hymns and prayers." '^^ The
proposal was then regarded as a novelty.*^^ "We have
sought," say the committee of the Cheshire Association,
three years later, "to give a lyrical character, and thus adapt
it [Christiati Hymns] to the choir as well as the pulpit." "^^
"^Annie Fields, Authors and Friends, Boston, 1896, pp. 152, 153.
''''James Freeman Clarke: Autobiography &c., Boston, 1892, p. 158.
^"Ibid., p. 145.
"'Preface to Christian Hymns, 1844.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 471
The tunes were neither in the hands nor mouths of the
people. The tune "Merton" which, with "Federal Street"
by the same composer, survives as a memorial of the time,
is said by Henry K. Oliver's biographer to have been written
out in the choir loft during a service in the North Church,
Salem, to fit the hymn appointed to be sung after the ser-
mon, and to have been rendered by the choir from the
manuscript. ^^
The introduction of hymnals provided with tunes in
other denominations, and their success in increasing the
interest of public worship, led to a desire for a Unitarian
hymn and tune book.^^ Samuel Longfellow had published
A Book of Hymns and Tunes (Boston, i860) for "the
children of the New Chapel," Brooklyn, but with some hope
that it might encourage congregational singing; and the
demand for a church collection with tunes became so urgent
that the American Unitarian Association took the matter
in hand, and issued Hymn and Tune Book for the ChurcJi
and the Home (Boston, 1868). The collection, edited by
Leonard J. Livermore, marked no advance over its prede-
cessors but its tunes were well up to the average level and
gave it a great advantage. It was not only the one available
hymnal with music, but the first in the nature of an author-
ized denominational hymnal. Its adoption and use by the
churches was very wide, and it helped to establish congre-
gational singing. The Hymn, Tune and Service Book for
Sunday schools (Unit. Assn., 1869) followed, and the
church collection was carefully revised in 1883.
These books represented the more conservative side of
Unitarianism, as did Rufus Ellis' Hymns for the Christian
Church, for the use of the First Church of Christ in Boston
(1869), which really belongs to the earlier series as being
a revision of Lunt's Christian Psalter and also without
tunes. In 1890 two hymn books appeared which sought to
""John Wright Buckham in The New England Magazine, December,
1896, p. 389.
"'Preface to Hymn and Tune Book, 1868.
472 THE ENGLISH HYMN
appropriate the newer Anglican tunes and much of the
wealth of the Oxford school of h3ann writers: — Hymnal:
amore Dei: compiled by Mrs. Theodore C. Williams (Bos-
ton, 1890), and Hymns of the Church Universal. Compiled
by the Rev. Henry Wilder Foote (Boston, 1890). The
latter, a posthumous publication, was not unworthy of its
title, and represented the spirit of fellowship with all
Christians which Mr. Foote had cultivated at King's Chapel.
Mrs. Williams' collection was revised in 1897, and Mr.
Foote's was substantially adopted by the American Uni-
tarian Association, reappearing as Hymns for Church and
Home. With tunes (Boston, 1895).
In the thirty years' dissension between the "Christian"
and the "free" elements of Unitarianism following the
organization of the National Conference in 1864, the radical
side developed its own school of hymn writers and em-
bodied its views and practices in its own hymn books. The
hymn writing is much more important than the hymn books.
John W. Chad wick, of Brooklyn, who has been called poet
laureate of the liberal faith, wrote his best-known hymn,
"Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round," for his own gradua-
tion at Harvard Divinity School in 1864. His later hymns
and verses are gathered in A Book of Poems (1876), In
Nazareth Town (1883), and Later Poems (1905). Less
known are the hymns of Minot J. Savage, contributed, to
the number of 43, to Sacred Songs for public zvorship. A
Hymn and Tune Book. Edited by M. J. Savage and
Howard M. Dozv (Boston, 1883).
In 1880 Frederick L. Ilosmer, William C. Gannett, and
J. Vilas Blake cooperated in editing Unity Hymns and
Carols in which both theology and liturgies were frankly
uprooted from a Christian basis and replanted under freer
skies. In 1885 Hosmer and Gannett again cooperated in
a book of devotional verse. The Thought of God in Hymns
and Poems (Boston: Little, Brown & Co.), followed by a
second series (Boston: 1894). The beauty and devoutness
of their work at once commended it to all religious minds,
THE ROMANTIC MOX^EMENT 473
and it has already become a source book for editors of
all religious persuasions. These volumes contain the most
important original contribution to "liberal" Hymnody since
the books of Longfellow and Johnson. And it is somewhat
noteworthy that four hymn writers so widely acceptable
should have viewed Christianity from the same angle of
incidence.
II. The Enrichment of Congregationalist and Pres-
byterian Hymnody is Left to Private Enterprise
I. Henry Ward Beecher Leads the Movement for
Congregational Singing (1851)
When Henry Ward Beecher came to the new Plymouth
Church, Brooklyn, in 1847, the conditions of Congrega-
tionalist and Presbyterian Church Song were those already
described as of the middle century:'^" — the "Psalms and
Hymns" in the hands of the congregation were not very
appealing and were without music, and the singing was
almost wholly in the hands of the choir.
There was no doubt much dissatisfaction with the pre-
vailing method and some preparation for its betterment;
but if the spirit of change was in the air, the determination
of the new pastor to have congregational singing was still
regarded as "one of Mr. Beecher's oddities." ^^ He in-
duced Darius E. Jones, then conductor of music in
Plymouth Church, to prepare a congregational hymn and
tune book, and the firm of Mason (sons of Lowell Mason)
to undertake the publication under a sufficient guaranty.^^
It appeared as Temple Melodies: a Collection of about two
hundred popidar tunes, adapted to nearly five hundred
favorite Hymns, selected with special reference to public,
™Chap. viii, part III, section 2, (4), (5).
"Lyman Abbott, Henry Ward Beecher, Boston, 1903, p. 88.
"See Beecher's account of its publication and his share in it in
W. C. Beecher and S. Scoville, Biography of Henry Ward Beecher,
New York, 1888, pp. 363, 364.
474 THE ENGLISH HYMN
social, and private worship. By Darius E. Jones (New
York, 1 851). Several clergymen assisted in selecting the
hymns; three, including George Duffield jr., contributed
originals : Mr. Beecher's organist, John Zundel, helping with
the music.
Its success was great enough to please its editor/^ but
Beecher was not satisfied with the new book, and began to
prepare a larger collection, with the aid of his brother
Charles and Zundel in the musical department."^^ No pub-
lisher could be persuaded to undertake the risk, and it was
printed with funds privately furnished^^ as Plymouth Col-
lection of Hymns and Tunes; for the use of Christian
congregations (New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1855),'^^
The tunes, whether familiar or new, were such as appealed
to the feelings. While not a musician, Beecher loved simple
music, and regarded himself "as a pioneer" ^'^ in the great
cause of congregational singing; and with this book in the
people's hands he wrought great things at Plymouth Church.
The hearty singing of the vast congregation became almost
as much of an attraction as his preaching.'''^ Its fame
spread far and wide, encouraged countless congregations
to emulate it, and carried the Collection itself into Baptist
and Presbyterian, as well as Congregational churches.
2. The Enrichment of Hymnody for Homiletical
Ends (1855-1858)
Mr. Beecher gathered his materials from hymn books
of all denominations without special knowledge of source
or text. The number of hymns (1374) is sufficient evi-
dence that the ruling motive was not literary. The poets
"Preface to his later collection on the same lines, Songs for the
new life (Chicago, 1869).
"Preface to Plymouth Collection.
"Beecher and Scoville, op. cit., p. 364.
"Also without music as Plymouth Collection of Hymns, 1855.
"Preface, p. viii.
"C/. N. L. Thompson, The History of Plymouth Church, N. Y.,
1873, p. 133-
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 475
and literary hymn writers were made use of, just as were
many older writers far from being literary, whenever
Beecher thought they had "power to excite pious emotions,"
and were thus "useful." "^ Still less was the motive litur-
gical. The use made of Latin hymns was not from the
feeling that they were churchly, but in the "joy" of dis-
covery that some "Roman Catholic Hymns" were "truly
evangelical." The tone of the Collection itself is decidedly
evangelical, with Watts and Wesley in the lead; the use
made of the New England Unitarian Hymnody being slight.
The interests of the new singing in connection with a
constructive theology and a point of view perhaps more
intellectual and less emotional than Beecher's, led to an
elaborate undertaking on the part of two Andover pro-
fessors, Edwards A. Park and Austin Phelps. They pub-
lished The Sabbath Hymn Book: for tJie service of song
in the House of the Lord (New York: Mason Bros.,
1858), and, with Lowell Mason's help. The Sabbath Hymn
and Tune Book (New York, 1859) revised as The m^zv
Sabbath Hymn Book (1866), As compared with Beecher's
The Sabbath Hymn Book is best described as a work of
scholarship. Its editors explored the sources of Hymnody,
did not hesitate to apply literary criteria, and treated their
materials with a scholar's precision. Their aims and meth-
ods, then so novel, were expounded and vindicated in three
papers in Bibliotheca Sacra; afterward gathered up and
enlarged in Hymns and Choirs: or, the matter and the
manner of the service of song in the House of the Lord
(Andover, i860) ; the first and still the only American
treatise on Hymnology. They believed that much of the
Hymnody of Watts and his school was outgrown to an
extent that made the current "Watts' and select" ideal re-
gressive; that both hymn writing and "hymnologic taste"
had been greatly elevated by the Romantic Movement; and
that it was the Church's duty to welcome "new songs" of
a higher lyric strain.®*' They brought many of these to
'"Preface, p. iv. ^"Hymns and Choirs, p. 55-
476 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the attention of the churches, and called to their aid several
living writers, of whom the most notable were Horatius
Bonar of Scotland and the American Congregationalist,
Ray Palmer. Palmer, who seems to have been silent since
the day of Parish Hymns (1843) contribiJted a series of
hymns that established his reputation and have kept The
Sabbath Hymn Book in permanent remembrance. Among
them were, ''O Bread to pilgrims given," "Jesus, Thou Joy
of loving hearts," "Come, Holy Ghost, in love," "Jesus,
these eyes have never seen," and "O Christ, our King,
Creator, Lord."
The "Andover book" received almost unqualified praise
from many eminent clergymen and such periodicals as The
New York Observer, The Congregationalist, The American
Theological Review (August, 1859), and The Congrega-
tional Quarterly (January, 1859), and it was adopted and
used in many congregations. But it had rivalry in Elias
Nason's The Congregational Hymn Book (Boston, 1857)
and The new Congregational Hymn and Tune Book (Bos-
ton, 1859), both books of taste and careful editing; and
their publisher retorted to the notices of the Andover book
in The Sabbath Hymn Book reviewed (Boston: Jewett &
Co., 1858). There was other opposition also; as in The
merits of the "Sabbath Hymn Book," and of the means
which are employed to introduce it into the churches. By
a clergyman of Massachusettts (Boston: Crocker & Brew-
ster, 1859). The Methodist Quarterly Review (January,
1861) objected to its Calvinism, and (not unjustly) to
many of its textual alterations.
These two books mark the transition from the hesitations
and limitations of the compromise era of "Psalms and
Hymns" to the free and catholic-hearted use of available
resources that characterizes modern Hymnody.
And yet, notwithstanding the progressive features of the
two books, their type was still homiletical rather than litur-
gical in either a larger or narrower sense. Plymouth Collec-
tion contained 1374 hymns, and upon adopting it in 1856
THE ROMANTIC MO\^EMENT 477
Miami Conference added 90: the Andover book 1290. We
ask the meaning of these vast collections that render any
real familiarity with the hymns a hopeless task, and whether
the people really demanded them. We find the answer in
the index of texts in The Sabbath Hymn Book covering
twenty-two large 8vo columns in fine print, and followed
by an "Analytical Index of Subjects" covering 32^^
columns. Only a trained theologian could have made this
analysis, and by such only could it be used. It was the
minister and not the people who wanted this analysis for
homiletical purposes, this great array of corresponding
hymns. In both books, that is to say, the motive of sermon
illustration and enforcement still conditioned Congrega-
tional Praise.
3. The New Type of Church Hymnal (1855)
The Plymouth Collection of 1855 marks also the transi-
tion from a Hymnody rendered by the choir to congrega-
tional singing, and from the older type of hymn book to the
church hymnal of today. Beecher's perception of the neces-
sity of putting the music as well as the words of the hymns
into the hands of the people who were to be encouraged to
sing came of course from his observation of the success
of such books as The Christian Lyre and Hastings and
Mason's Spiritual Songs. But the application of the prin-
ciple to the church hymn book was a novelty, and the
doubtful result of the enterprise appears from Beecher's
inability to find a publisher willing to assume the risk. It
is worthy of remembrance however that Leonard W. Bacon,
then pastor of St. Peter's Church in the Presbytery of
Rochester, published as of even date with Plymouth Collec-
tion, a similar but smaller aid to congregational singing, as
Church Music; with selections . . . from the Psalms and
Hymns of the Presbyterian Church. Adopted and recom-
mended by St. Peter's Church, Rochester (Rochester, 1855).
In this he was followed by Dr. Nathaniel C. Burt in A
478 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Pastor's Selection of Hymns and Tunes (Philadelphia,
1859)-
The bringing of the tunes into the church hymnal greatly
advanced congregational singing. Nevertheless Plymouth
Collection set a bad model, which the Andover editors
copied, and which has been perpetuated in many subsequent
hymnals. A tune was printed across the top of an octavo
page, and the space beneath (divided into two columns)
and even an opposite page was filled with hymns to be sung
to it. It was seldom that all the hymns were adapted to
the tune, and the method led also to the inclusion of surplus
material as "filler," or to the mutilation of good hymns for
lack of available space to print them in full. So poor and
mechanical an expedient was suggested no doubt by the
impracticability of printing its own tune to each of so great
an array of hymns.
4. Dr. Robinson's Popular Hymnals (1862-1875)
In the ensuing years the provision of hymn books for
such Congregational and Presbyterian churches as did not
retain older books fell to a surprising extent into the hands
of one man, Dr. Charles S. Robinson, a Presbyterian pastor,
who made hymn book compilation what must be called a
business. Between 1862 and 1892 he published not less
than fifteen, including Sunday school books and abridg-
ments for chapel use. He aimed at edification, and sought
popularity, but with a gradually advancing literary and
musical standard.
The earliest of the series was Songs of the Church: or,
Hymns and Tunes for Christian worship ( New York :
Barnes and Burr, 1862). It offered a compromise between
choir music and congregational singing, with 859 hymns
"for the congregation" printed under tunes in the Plymouth
Collection manner, and 334 "for the choir" without tunes.
The hymns, often shortened to fit the page, were largely
of the older Evangelical type. The selection of hymns and
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 479
the general tone were much modernized in Robinson's
second book, Songs for the Sanctuary ( New York : Barnes.
1865), and the unset choir hymns were now distributed in
groups through the book. It met an extraordinary success ;
more than 200,000 copies coming into use within seven
years in nearly 2000 congregations, and the book was kept
in print until the end of the century. Much of the popu-
larity of these collections was due to their musical editor,
Joseph P. Holbrook, a tune writer in the parlor music style,
and his use of the popular melodies of Mason and Hastings,
Bradbury and Root, Greatorex and Kingsley. Holbrook
furnished settings for the choir hymns in Songs for the
Sanctuary in his Quartet and chorus Choir (New York,
1871), and sought more recognition than had been given
him in a hymnal of his own, Worship in Song (New York,
1880) ; a book that found no welcome.
Dr. Robinson's third book, Psalms and Hymns and
Spiritual Songs. A manual of worship for the Church of
Christ (New York: Barnes, 1875) ^^''^s arranged through-
out for congregational use, and had more of the new hymns.
It became the official praise book of the Southern branch of
the Presbyterian Church; and the anticipation of such adop-
tion no doubt explains Dr. Robinson's belated reversion to
the "Psalms and Hymns" model.
This adaptation to the usage of the Southerners is an
index also to the method of his work and to the secret of
his success in such leadership in Hymnody as must be
accorded to him. He originated nothing. His books were
modelled upon those of Beecher and the Andover profes-
sors. In freshness and freedom of selection his first book
was a step backward; and he was a timid follower of their
zeal to establish congregational singing. He shared with
them the prevailing homiletical conception of Hymnody
but guarded the advance of the literary motive, lest it dis-
turb sacred associations. In some things he was more
judicious than they, especially in consulting and meeting the
general taste. He aimed to please the choirs by giving them
48o THE ENGLISH HYMN
a recognized choir hymn to set at will and to render; to
please the ministers by giving them immense collections
(1193, 1342, 1294) from which to choose sermon illus-
trations ; and to please the people by giving them tunes they
loved to sing in church and at home. Perhaps this atmos-
phere of good will and general interest in Hymnody was a
result as happy and as important as any could have been;
coupled as it was with a gradual improvement in the choice
of hymns and, more slowly, in the religious quality of the
music.^^
Dr. Robinson found his opportunity in the remissness
of the church authorities in meeting the needs of the time.
Incidentally his labors proved very profitable to him and his
publishers and unhappily proved a great stimulus to the
commercial side of hymn book making. And a commer-
cialized Hymnody is not a pleasant object of contemplation
to any one who cares for the sanctities or the best interests
of public worship. We may defer the consideration of
Dr. Robinson's later work, which came under the influence
of Anglican ideals in Hymnody and church music emanat-
ing from the Oxford Movement.
HI. Other Denominations Follow the Unitarian
Lead
I. "The Christian Hymn Book" (1863)
No denomination profited more from the Unitarian
movement for the improvement of Hymnody than the sect
of Christians, whose revival origin and somewhat illiterate
hymns have been referred to. With a view to superseding
various books and "pamphlets" in use the Book Association
had published Hymns and spiritual songs — original and
selected — for the use of Christians. By D. Millard and J.
Badger (Union Mills, N. Y., 1831; 8th ed., 1840); made
"For a somewhat dififering estimate of Dr. Robinson's place and
work in Hymnody see Jas. H. Ross in The Homiletic Review, April,
i8qq.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 481
up of selections from Watts, and hymns of a very mixed
character. But in 1863 appeared The Christian Hymn
Book, for the Sanctuary and Home (Boston: Crosby and
Nichols, 1863), edited by T, C. Moulton, E. Edmunds and
W. Hathaway. This marked a change indeed. It was
worthy in make-up and method and contents to be one of
the current Unitarian series of hymn books on which it was
modelled; and was indeed regarded by The Christian Ex-
aminer as "unsurpassed by any collection that has been
published." ^^
2. The New Universalist Hymnody (1846-1895)
The same influences affected Universalist Hymnody,
both in manner and contents. Hymns for Christian Devo-
tion; especially adapted to the Universalist denomination.
By J. G. Adams and E. H. Chapin (Boston, 1846) an-
nounced Itself^^ as representing "a liberal and progressive
Christianity" and as profiting by the sheets of "the new
Cambridge Unitarian Hymn Book." Its more cultured
tone proved not unwelcome, and it reached a 17th edition
as early as 1853, ^^^ was republished in 1871 by the
denominational Publishing House (Boston). Mr. Adams
followed it up independently with The Gospel Psalmist; a
collection of Hymns and tunes (Boston, 1861) ; interesting
as the first attempt to provide the music for congregational
singing, "coming into practice in other Christian churches"^^
Vestry Harmonies (Boston: Universalist Publ. House,
1868) was a third compilation of Mr. Adams, and smaller.
In taking up Hymns for the Church and the Home: with a
selection of Psalms. Portland Collection ( Boston : Uni-
versalist Publ. House, 1865), one gets the impression that
the publishers have put the denominational imprint upon
some one of the current Unitarian hymn books. The im-
pression is strengthened by the combination of a service
"July, 1863.
'^Preface.
"Preface.
482 THE ENGLISH HYMN
book with the hymns in A Book of Prayer for the Church
and the Home (n. d.) in the manner of several Unitarian
editors. But the Portland Collection was a new compila-
tion by Dr. E. C. Bolles and Israel Washburn jr. The
book was without music, but the movement to introduce
congregational singing encouraged the publishers to issue a
musical edition, with the addition of some 200 hymns,
necessary "to make each page complete," as Church
Harmonies: a collection of Hymns and tunes for the use of
congregations (Boston: Universahst Publ. House, 1873).
With Church Harmonies new and old (Boston: Univer-
sahst Publ. House, 1895), the denomination secured a
hymnal of the modern type. Its hymns and music are
edited with some care, and it preserves a certain distinc-
tiveness and regard for denominational traditions in a
decade when most church hymnals sought catholicity.
Of the Universahst hymn writers of this later period
John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin are known within
the denomination, and Adams' "Heaven is here : its hymns
of gladness" was in The Plymouth Hymnal, though altered
and patriotically ascribed to President John Quincy Adams.
The Gary sisters are better known poets of Universahst
faith. Phoebe's tender "One sweetly solemn thought" is
in wide use,. but has suffered much from the editorial prun-
ing knife. Alice's "Earth, with its dark and dreadful ihs,"
"O day to sweet religious thought," and "To Him who is
the Life of life," are included in Horder's Worship Song.
THE OFFSET: THE "GOSPEL HYMN"
(1851 to date)
The Literary Hymn has as its offset the "Gospel Hymn."
The movement to elevate the literary and musical tone of
church worship leaves indifferent a large class both in and
beyond the Church whose taste is for light music and
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 483
emotional verse. It thus invites, and, in the opinion of many
earnest Christian workers, justifies a counter-movement to
reach that element upon the plane of their own taste and
accomplishment. Hence the Evangelistic Hymn, the Camp
Meeting and Revival Song, and in our own day the Gospel
Hymn.
The modern Evangelistic Movement and its Hymnody
centres in the interdenominational Young Men's Christian
Association, organized at London in 1844, and at Montreal
and Boston in 185 1. The rendering of familiar church
hymns by male voices in a then strange atmosphere of
"Union" was the first novelty of its Hymnody. In the
revival of 1858 the great agency was the "Union Prayer
Aleeting" in large cities, and the prayer meeting developed
spontaneity and brevity in the use of hymns. Union Prayer
Meeting Hymns (S. S. Union, 1858) were mainly the
familiar hymns of the Church. During the ensuing years
of Civil War the Association follow^ed the young men to
field and camp and hospital, under the name of The Chris-
tian Commission. Several societies cooperated in supply-
ing little hymn books for the field, which became a striking
feature of army w'ork.^^ TJie Soldiers' Hymn Book
(Y. M. C. A.) reached a circulation of over 100,000 copies:
that of The Hymns and Tunes for the Army and Nary
(Am. Tract Soc.) was even larger; and The Soldiers'
Pocket Book (Presbyterian Bd. of Publ.) was a favorite of
the camps. These, as also the hymn books for the Southern
army, were mainly confined to hymns already familiar in
church or school at home.
But in its city w^ork after the war the Association was
soon committed to the Evangelistic or Revival type of
Hymnody. The Young Mens Christian Association Hymn
and Tune Book (Boston, 1867 : Philadelphia, 1872), made
'"See Jas. H. Ross, Hymns and Singers of the Y. M. C. A., Boston:
The Pilgrim Press, 1901 ; chap, iv, "The Hymns of the Soldiers ;" also
"Hawkeye's" letter from the field in The (Philadelphia) Presbyterian,
Nov. I, 1862.
484 THE ENGLISH HYMN
by Secretary L. P. Rowland, is not very different 'from the
earlier "social" and "revival" hymn books, but enriched
by newer melodies of Bradbury and others. The North-
western Hymn Book, compiled by Dwight L. Moody, then
the leader of the Chicago Association, is of similar type,
with a larger use of the stirring Sunday school songs of the
Hull and Bradbury school. Indeed the long series of Sun-
day school song books of George F. Root, William B.
Bradbury, Asa Hull, Horace Waters, Silas J. Vail, Robert
Lowry, William G. Fischer and others, beginning in the
late forties and extending forward unbrokenly, demand
recognition for the part played by their fresh songs and
contagious melodies in developing a taste in the young for
the lighter type of religious song. They prepared the way;
and as the Sunday school work mingled with that of the
Association, and of the Christian Commission during the
war, to go forward in a broadening stream of evangelistic
effort, these Sunday school books furnished the evangelists
with the earliest examples of what are now known as
Gospel Hymns. Among them were Bradbury's settings of
"Sweet hour of prayer," "Lord, I hear of showers of bless-
ing," and "He leadeth me"; Fischer's of "I love to tell the
story" ; Lowry's "Shall we gather at the river," and
O'Kane's "O think of a home over there"; each exhibiting
the now familiar marks of the Gospel Hymn, even the
inevitable refrain.
More specifically the prominence of the Gospel Hymn
in modern evangelism grev/ out of the "Praise services"
organized as early as 1851*° by Eben Tourjee, who became
President of the Boston Y. M. C. A. in 1871, and the sing-
ing of H. Thane Miller and W. H. Doane at the Associa-
tion conventions; the "Services of Song" given by Philip
Phillips at Sunday school conventions and Christian Com-
mission meetings and indeed around the globe, and in asso-
ciation with the Sunday school and evangelistic campaign of
*°Elias Nason, Lives of Moody and Sankey, etc., Boston, 1877,
p. 297.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEiMENT 485
John H. Vincent and Dwight L. Moody in the West;*^
and the work of Philip P. BHss in connection with Moody's
missionary labors in Chicago. Phillips regarded himself
as the pioneer in introducing "the sacred solo into religious
meetings, as defined worship" ^^ and his association with
Moody as "doubtless the precedent which was followed by
the gospel partnership of Moody and Sankey." ^^
At the Indianapolis Y. M. C. A. convention of 1870
Moody first met Ira D. Sankey, and claimed him as a
helper in the Chicago work.^^ In 1872 they started together
for the first evangelistic campaign in Great Britain. The
extreme unpreparedness of England for Sankey's gospel
songs and methods, so much emphasized by his biographers,
was perhaps characteristic of conventional church circles
rather than of the public he sought to reach. Richard
Weaver had introduced solo-singing at his meetings; The
Revival Hymn Book (Morgan and Chase, 1858) had
proved immensely popular in connection with them, and
was followed by the serial Heart Melodies and by Hymns
of Grace and Glory.^^ William Booth began his tent meet-
ings at Whitechapel in 1865, from which arose The Chris-
tian Mission, to become in turn the Salvation Army; and
in the late '60s published The Christian Mission Hymn
Book, the predecessor of The Salvation Soldier's Hymn
Book. It contained gospel songs in abundance, including
many of the new American Sunday school songs. More-
over Philip Phillips was just completing his second British
campaign, and had made his method of "singing the gos-
pel" widely familiar. His The American sacred Songster
had been published by the British Sunday school Union
"Philip Phillips, Song Pilgrimage around the world, Chicago, 1880.
p. 64.
^Song Pilgrimage, p. 63.
"Vfcirf., p. 64.
•"Wm. R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, Chicago, 1900.
p. 125.
*^Geo. E. Morgan, R. C. Morgan, his life and times. New York,
n. d., pp. 58, 174; and for Weaver and his songs, pp. 118, 122.
486 THE ENGLISH HYMN
and attained a circulation claimed as over one million one
hundred thousand copies.''^ In Scotland and Ireland San-
key's sacred songs and ways were more novel, and under
his hands the American melodeon did much to break down
the Presbyterian prejudice against "organs." ^^
One of Philip Phillips' song books, Hallowed Songs,
was adopted by Moody and Sankey for their meetings, and
Sankey made use of various songs he had brought from
Chicago. Copies of these were so often asked for that an
effort was made to have them appended to Hallowed
Songs.^^ On its publisher's refusal Morgan and Scott
printed them in a 1 6-page pamphlet, lettered Sacred Songs
and Solos,^^ and sold for sixpence. This was the nucleus
of the "Moody and Sankey Hymn Book," but in England
it kept its original name, and has since grown by gradual
accretions to a volume of 1200 pieces. The evangelists,
it is pleasant to record, refused the royalties, amounting
by the end of their tour to £7000.^*^
At home, P. P. Bliss had followed Sankey's lead, and
associated himself for evangelistic work with D. W.
Whittle, preparing for their use a small collection of Gospel
Songs (Cincinnati, 1874). In this were no less than fifty-
two tunes of his own composition, in many cases set to
words also written by him. The hymns were striking and
sometimes dramatic : the tunes were hardly original, being
full of old and familiar ideas and phrases, but were of a
vivacious sort sure to become popular when they found their
opportunity. Upon Moody's return it was decided to unite
the Sacred Songs and Solos used abroad with materials
furnished by Bliss' book, and the joint collection was pub-
lished as Gospel Hymns and sacred Songs. By P. P. Bliss
"'Song Pilgrimage, p. 62.
'^J. S. Curwen, Studies in ivorship music, 2nd series, London, n. d.,
p. 40.
"'Moody, op. cit., p. 170.
"'Without date, but first advertised in The Christian for Sept. 18,
1873. Moody, p. 171.
""Moody, op. cit., p. 172.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 487
and Ira D. Sankcy, as used by them in gospel meetings
(Biglow and Main and John Church and Co., 1875).
The book was introduced at the great Moody meetings in
the Brooklyn Rink and the old Pennsylvania Railroad depot
in Philadelphia and at other cities with a somewhat over-
whelming effect, and was circulated in immense quantities
throughout the country. The Gospel Hymns may be said
to have carried the more emotional and less cultivated
element of religious people off its feet, and to have fur-
nished for a time the familiar songs of vast numbers
hitherto unacquainted with hymns and unused to public
worship. The new melodies penetrated even the music
halls and were whistled by the man on the street. Some of
the new hymns became household words; notably "Ho!
my comrades, see the signal," "Let the lower lights be
burning," "Light in the darkness, sailor," and "Almost
persuaded now to believe," by Bliss; "Safe in the arms of
Jesus" and "Rescue the perishing" by "Fanny Crosby" ;
"I love to tell the story" and "Tell me the old, old story"
by Miss Hankey; and "I need Thee every hour" by Annie
S. Hawks.
Bliss and Sankey became the heads of an evangelistic
school of hymn and tune writers (the hymns and tunes
being hardly separable) ; and as Moody's work continued,
they with James McGranahan, George C. Stebbins, D. C.
Towner and others, met the demand for new songs with
fresh contributions. Gospel Hymns and sacred Songs was
followed in 1876 by Gospel Hymns, No. 2, and in 1878 by
No. j; the series ending with No. 6 in 1891,^^ succeeded by
similar collections with other names but under the same
auspices. The later books naturally lacked the fresh in-
terest of the first, and encountered also very many rivals
which the early success had developed.
It ought now to be evident that while the Gospel Hymn
is inevitably associated with the names of Moody and
"For annotations on the hymns, see Ira D. Sankey, Sankcy's Story
of the Gospel Hymns, Philadelphia, 1906.
488 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Sankey, their part was to bring an older movement to the
culmination of a great popular success rather than to
inaugurate a movement that was novel. Nor did the songs
they brought forward with so much effect constitute either
in words or music a type of hymn distinctively new or even
clearly marked off from its predecessors. And yet their
popular success was certainly distinctive, and presents a
new phase of hymn singing as notable in its way as the
XVnith century outburst of Methodist Song; and it re-
mains to be accounted for.
It came largely from the fresh appeal to the emotions
which this group of tune writers was able to infuse into
its compositions. In the original Gospel Hymns and sacred
Songs this appeal was shared in to a large extent by the
hymns written or chosen to carry the tunes. But there is
suggestiveness in Sankey's confession that he found it
"much more difficult" to get suitable words than tunes ;^^
and as the series proceeds, a rereading of the hymns be-
comes on the whole a dull exercise, the proportion that
quickens feeling or tickles the sense of rhythm becoming
comparatively small. The tunes also become more mechan-
ical, no doubt; but the early melodies that lived are of the
sort that appeal to the average emotional nature through
the senses. They are "easy," and "catchy" and sentimental,
swaying with soft or martial rhythm and culminating in the
taking "refrain" ; calling for no musical knowledge to
understand and no skill to render them ; inevitably popular
with the unfailing appeal of clear melody.
Even so the popular appeal of these Gospel Hymns can-
not be disassociated from the persons and occasion that
first brought them into general notice any more than the
Methodist fervor of song can be separated from Wesley and
the Revival. They were first heard in the sweet tones of a
magnetic singer in the intense atmosphere created by
Moody's preaching, and first sung in unison with a great
throng of deeply moved people. Something of the spiritual
''7- S. Curwen, Worship Music, 2nd series, p. 39.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 489
impression they made was reflected from the simple and
sincere personalities of the evangelists. They were plain
men employing the arguments and illustrations, the music
and verse, that appealed to themselves in the conviction
that such preaching and song was best adapted to appeal
to their hearers.
Why then (so the argument runs) since the great ma-
jority of people who come under revival influences, whether
of Moody or his successors, are likewise plain and unculti-
vated, is not the Gospel Hymn best adapted to the ends
of evangelistic work? And if happily these people are
brought into the worshipping congregation, why should
they be asked to forego the sentimental verse and popular
melody that appeal to them in favor of a more literary
Hymnody and more artistic music? That there is some
force in the argument is beyond doubting. Many hearts
have been quickened through these hymns that seem to the
critical crude in sentiment and unrefined in expression.
And the editor of one of the choicest of modern musical
hymnals has admitted that through the compositions of the
"Gospel Hymns" school "music has become the expression
of the spiritual life for thousands who before were without
a voice in public worship, and, as suppressed feeling easily
dies, were often without any share in public worship." ^®
But there is truth also in the limitation of Prof. Pratt: —
"The defenders of this popular hymnody . . . very often very
gravely underestimate the capacity of the popular mind to rise above
vulgar embodiments of truth and to shake itself free from perverted
sentimentality, and they constantly mistake the zest of animal enjoy-
ment in a rub-a-dub rhythm or the shout of childish pleasure in a
'catchy' refrain for real religious enthusiasm." '°°
On the whole it is quite consistent with a faith in the
pure motives of the inspirers of Gospel Hymns and a
recognition of the good they have done to believe that
''Lyman Abbott, "Historical Introduction" to The Plymouth Hym-
nal, New York, 1894, P- xii.
^""Waldo S. Pratt, Musical Ministries in the Church, Revell Co.,
1901, p. 62.
490 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Wesley's elevated standard of Revival Hymnody is more
devout and hence more prudent, and that his conjunction of
the educational process with revival enthusiasm is the more
complete and satisfying system.
It was the lack of any educational ideal or development
in the "Gospel Hymns" school of Hymnody that has caused
its rapid deterioration. Countless imitators of Gospel
Hymns were raised up, without the inspiration and some-
times without the unmixed motives of the leaders. Every
new evangelist following Moody's methods must have his
Sankey and his own hymn book. Moreover the immense
pecuniary success of the Gospel Hymns series (in which
Moody and Sankey took no share for personal use) offered
great temptations to publishers and writers, and the making
of such books soon became a trade. They deteriorated
partly because the standard of popular music and verse
descended to the rag-time level, and partly because it is
simpler to deal with the great public on its own plane, or
a little below it, than to attempt to uplift it.
The diminished usefulness of Gospel Hymns became so
obvious that a movement to return to a more sober Hym-
nody began in the same Young Men's Christian Association
that had led the way in introducing them. Under the inspira-
tion of Charles Cuthbert Hall appeared the excellent Praise
Songs (New York, 1897) for Y. M. C. A. use. It was
followed in 1898 by Church Hymns and Gospel Songs
(Biglow and Main Co.), in which Sankey, McGranahan
and Stebbins themselves restored the standard hymns to
their rightful precedence. It was again Cuthbert Hall who
arranged the Hymnal for the Jubilee Convention of Young
Men's Christian Associations (1901), made up almost ex-
clusively of the choicest hymns and tunes of The Hymnal
(1895) of the Presbyterian Church.
As to the effect of the Gospel Hymn movement upon
church Hymnody, it threatened at first to be very serious.
In the Methodist Episcopal Church it almost uprooted the
established Hymnody, and made the task of those who
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 491
would conserve the old standard of worship very difficult
for a time. In many other denominations the Gospel Hymns
took possession of the Sunday schools, Christian Endeavor
societies and devotional services, and encouraged a genera-
tion to grow up largely without the help and inspiration of
great hymns. To many of these the tone of Church Praise
seems still to lack the "go" and vivacity to which they had
grown accustomed; and Gospel Hymns, old or new, keep
knocking at the church gates for admission. The time has
come when it is perceived that all songs called Gospel
Hymns are not a homogenous mass, and that they should
be judged like other hymns upon their individual merit.
And as affecting the standard of that judgment it cannot
count for nothing that a generation of active Christians has
been accustomed to associate these sentimental verses and
contagious melodies with the offices of religion.
One influence of the Moody and Sankey movement on
Church Song, already very marked, is the new recognition
or at least tolerance of an Evangelistic Hymnody given by
all denominations. Either as a department of "mission
services" in the church hymnal or as an authorized "mission
hymnal," the needs of evangelistic work are being met. In
these, it seems likely that some of the Gospel Hymns may
find some permanence. The recent The English Hymnal
(Oxford, 1906) contains for instance no less than five
hymns^*'^ with their original settings from the first number
of Gospel Hymns and sacred Songs.
Many have prophesied that the older type of evangelism
and Evangelistic Hymnody has largely fulfilled its mission
and lost its attraction ; and is to undergo a change of method
and spirit. And it is possible that the phenomenal XXth
century evangelistic campaign of William A. Sunday has
surprised a church whose mind was strongly turned away
from the emotional side of religious experience toward
"""Ho! my comrades," "I hear Thy welcome voice," "Safe in
the arms of Jesus," "Tell me the old, old story," and "There were
ninety and nine."
492 THE ENGLISH HYMN
social and ethical aspects of religion. With attractive power
quite equal to Moody's, though with some devices Moody
would have declined, Sunday has gained a wide hearing for
Whitefield's gospel of the XVHIth century Great Awaken-
ing, even repeating Gilbert Tennent's fierce indictment of
the churches. But to a less degree than either Whitefield
or Moody he has evoked or depended upon the fervor of
popular song. He has not found, and perhaps not sought,
a Sankey ; and Great Revival Hymns No. 2 (Chicago, 1910)
is both in its contents and its appeal a contrast indeed to
Gospel Hymns and sacred Songs. The great success of the
Sunday movement opens anew the question of the future
of the older type of evangelism and Evangelistic Song,
which, as we shall show, is now confronted by a new "Social
Gospel" and a somewhat aggressive activity in the develop-
ment of a popular "Social Hymnody."
CHAPTER X
THE HYMNODY OF THE OXFORD REVIVAL
I
IT DOMINATES THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND
I. The Movement to Restore the "Primitive"
Church Hymnody (1833)
Keble's The Christian Year appeared in the same year as
Heber's Hymns, and like them had been long delayed. The
book was not a hymnal, by intention or in effect. The
meditative verse lends itself reluctantly to hymnic use, and
the familiar Morning and Evening Hymns^ extracted from
the opening pieces have been taken at the cost of marring
the beauty of those poems. It had little direct influence
upon Hymnody except as it elevated the standard of sacred
verse. Its influence lay in the glamour of poetry it threw
upon the feasts and fasts of the liturgical year, its call upon
the imagination to prepare the way for the Oxford Move-
ment. Of this Movement Keble was the undoubted founder,
and his Assize Sermon of 14th July, 1833, was ever re-
garded by Newman as its actual start. And this Movement
was destined to exert a most direct and pronounced influence
upon the Hymnody of the Church of England first of all,
and ultimately upon that of all English-speaking Churches.
The Prayer Book with its elements of compromise be-
tween Catholic and Reformed types of churchmanship, was
to give opportunity for the movement and to prove the
center of its operations.
' "New every morning is the love" and "Sun of my soul, Thou
Saviour dear."
493
494 THE ENGLISH HYMN
The task of demonstrating the essential cathoHcity of the
Prayer Book was undertaken by William Palmer of Mag-
dalen. His Origines Liturgicae, or Antiquities of the Eng-
lish Ritual, published in 1832, was an essential factor of the
preparations for the Movement. Now, in the Prayer Book
the daily order for Morning and Evening Prayer replaces
the Divine Office for the observance of the daily Hours of
Prayer in the old system. But Morning and Evening Prayer
are so trifling in the extent of their contents against the vast
bulk of the Divine Office as gathered in the four volumes
of the Breviary, that it suited Palmer's thesis to show how
complicated and cumbrous the Office had become, and that
before the Reformation various expedients of abridgment
were resorted to; thus indicating the prudence of the Re-
formers in reducing the Hours of Prayer to two, and drop-
ping the great mass of appointed materials." Among the
materials missing from Morning and Evening Prayer were
the metrical hymns that made a stated part of -the Office.
Hence it suited Palmer's purpose to slight the hymn-singing
feature of the Breviary, and by citing in a foot-note decrees
of certain Councils prohibiting it, to leave the impression
that hymn singing was not Catholic in the "semper" and
"ubique" sense. "^
If this position had been maintained by the other Oxford
leaders, the subsequent fortune of the English Hymn would
have been different from what we know. Some of them
undertook the study of the Breviary in a different spirit, as
expressed by Newman in the title of his 75th number of the
famous Tracts for the Times, "On the Roman Breviary as
embodying the substance of the devotional services of the
Church Catholic." Newman's thesis was that the Breviary
was an inestimable treasure of devotion, of which the
Roman Church had defrauded the Church at large, by
retaining the ancient Latin form, and that the Church of
England should reappropriate what it had lost by mere
"Vol. i, "Antiquities" etc., chap. 1, pt. i, "Hours of Prayer."
^Ed. 4, 1845, vol. i, p. 224 and note.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 495
inadvertence.* To this end he appended 123 pages of
selections from the Breviary translated by him, including in
their proper places versions of ten of the Office Hymns ren-
dered into his limpid verse.
As early as 1829 Bishop Lloyd's divinity lectures at Ox-
ford upon the sources of the Prayer Book had directed
attention to the breviaries, and the contents of a copy of the
Paris Breviary brought over by Sir John Prevost took Keble
and Isaac Williams "much by surprise." ^ Charmed by the
beauty of its hymns, Williams at once began to translate
them, and in 1833 to publish his versions in The British
Magacine. In 1839 he gathered them into a volume, Hymns
translated from the Parisian Breviary (London, Riving-
ton). But Williams dreaded the use of unauthorized hymns
in the Church services, and originally chose "unrhythmical
harsh meters to prevent this." *^ This course he subsequently
modified, and, in the preface of 1839, expressed the opinion
that Cranmer had omitted the Breviary hymns from the
Prayer Book because of the lack of competent translators,
but that they v^ere more congenial to the spirit of the book
than the modern hymns so often introduced in connection
with it. Newman, on the other hand, thought the hymns
had been "discarded because of associations with which
they were then viewed, and of the interpolations by which
they were disfigured, but that, when purified from these,
they at once commended themselves to the thoughtful mind
who would repair the breaches of the Reformation.''' The
average opinion of the time is illustrated in John Chandler,
fellow of Corpus Christi and curate^ of Witley, who had
become a seeker for things primitive. He had not been
aware that there were any good ancient hymns extant, and
regarded those contained in what he calls "Popish missals"
as "barbarous in their latinity as defective in their doc-
*Tract No. 73, pp. i, 2.
^Autobiography of Isaac Williams, B.D., 2nd ed. London, 1892,
PP- 36, 37-
'Ibid., p. 2,7, note. 'Preface to Hymni Ecdesiae, 1838.
496 THE ENGLISH HYMN
trine." * To the English hymns in current use he objected
hkewise, not only as unauthorized, but because "many are
from sources to which our Primitive Apostolic Church
would not choose to be indebted." ^ His attention was
caught by Williams' versions of the Parisian hymns, ap-
pearing in Tlie British Magazine. He purchased a copy of
the Paris Breviary and of Casander's Hymni Sacri of 1556,
and set to work upon the translation of the hymns. In
1837 he published Tlie Hymns of the primitive Church,
now first collected, translated and arranged, by tlie Rev. J.
Chandler. The work was hasty, and the versions far from
reproducing the originals. But it was opportune, and the
hymns were rhythmical; and Chandler's book played a
considerable part in the revival of Latin hymns.
In the same year, an Irish bishop, Richard Mant, pub-
lished his Ancient Hymns, from the Roman Breviary, for
domestic use, with a preface commending the hymns and
other parts of the Breviary as an acceptable manual of
private devotion. In 1838 Newman followed' with his
Hymni Ecclesiae, being two volumes of the texts of Latin
hymns, the first from the Paris Breviary, the other from
the Roman Breviary and other sources.
The prominence of the Paris Breviary and the Breviary
of Urban VIII in this movement to restore things primitive
is curious enough. The hymnal of the Paris Breviary from
which Williams worked, and in which Chandler found The
Hymns of the primitive Church, was substantially the work
of a group of French poets writing to the order of the
Archbishop of Paris; and whose work appeared in 1736,
with the intention of supplanting the ancient hymns by
these on modern lines. And the Breviary Hymns of Bishop
Mant were from the Renaissance hymnal which Urban VIII
introduced into the Roman Breviary of 1632, to satisfy the
pseudo-classical taste of his time. One gets the impression
that among this first group of restorers Newman alone knew
^Preface to Hymns of the primitive Church, 1837, p. viii.
"Ibid., p. iv.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 497
what he was about. To the others, in the elation of dis-
covery, everything Latin was assumed to be primitive, and
to men educated in the classical atmosphere of Oxford the
language of the later hymnals, in its approach to classical
models, appealed more than the early hymns could have
done, even had they known them.^° They were working
with no adequate knowledge of their materials; but their
work, however amusingly ineffective for the specific pur-
pose they had at heart, proved effective enough in the
general interests of Hymnody.
2. The Result: the Liturgical Hymn
And what their work did for Hymnody may be summed
up under three heads : —
(i) It put hymn singing in the Church of England upon
an entirely different status. Just as psalm singing had
come into the Church with the taint of Geneva on it, a
practice to be tolerated at best and kept apart from the
authorized Prayer Book system, but had in course of time
been taken up by the churchly party itself as a venerable
institution to be protected and conserved against encroach-
ment ; so it was now to be with hymn singing. The Hymn
was the badge of dissent, and had obtruded itself into the
Church under the impulse of revival enthusiasm outside.
It was the particular encroachment that threatened the
integrity of the Metrical Psalmody which the high church
party would protect. It was a lawless novelty of the
Evangelicals, but perhaps under all the circumstances, to
be tolerated and made the best of. But unexpectedly these
new researches into things primitive revealed the Hymn
as distinctly one of them, a constituent part of the Daily
Office and even of the Mass, embedded in their structure,
sung everywhere from most ancient days at their rendering.
Hymn singing instead of being Evangelical was revealed as
Catholic. The logic of the situation was inevitable, and
'"C/. Jno. M. Neale's article in The Christian Remembrancer, 1850,
hereafter referred to.
498 THE ENGLISH HYMN
hence all this zeal to provide versions of the historic hymns,
and the present agreement of Catholic and Evangelical in
accepting the status of hymn singing in the Church of
England.
(2) It revealed the Latin hymns to the Church and
acclimated them. The rich sources of Church Song thus
opened up had remained till then practically unexplored;
and it was a great enrichment of English Hymnody that
the Ambrosian Hymnody embodied in the Breviary and laid
aside at the Reformation, together with the later accretions
of church hymns, whether Roman or Gallican, should once
more be restored to English use. This enrichment and
restoration has in the course of time become so much an
accepted thing that we hardly appreciate the changed point
of view involved. But it is doubtful if anything short of
Tractarian principles, or any urgency less than the Oxford
upheaval, would have had the force to overcome the deep
prejudices and deliberate ignorance that had kept the old
church hymns outside the pale of Protestant sympathy.
(3) li affected the motive and content of the English
Hymn itself; establishing (rather than introducing) a dis-
tinct type — the Liturgical Hymn.
The Evangelical Hymn is inevitably the voice of the
believer; the Liturgical Hymn is the voice of the worship-
ping church. The EvangeHcal Hymn deals primarily with
inward experience; the Liturgical Hymn, even though ex-
pressive of common experience, relates it objectively to the
hour of worship, the church season or occasion, the ordi-
nance and sacrament. The Evangelical Hymn is free; the
Liturgical Hymn, in theory at least, is the metrical element
of a closely articulated liturgical order, having its fixed
place which determines its contents. Bishop Heber's mind
and hand were turned toward this ideal, and served as a
preparation for its fulfillment at the hands of the Oxford
Reformers and their disciples. Newman's Tract No. /^
exemplified the Liturgical Hymn in situ. And the early
group of books of hymns, — -Williams', Chandler's, Mant's,
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 499
— were all liturgical. With an appearance of being
accommodated to the familiar Prayer Book, they were in
reality articulated by the far more complicated framework
of the Breviary, and brought with them something of its
doctrine and terminology. Each day of the week has its
special hymns, and Chandler provides for the daily noc-
turns, matins and even song. There are hymns for the
Sundays and familiar fasts and feasts not only, but for
their vigils and octaves, for a line of saints' days, and for
the commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the holy
martyrs, bishops, presbyters, virgins, etc.
The Liturgical Hymn was thus one of the earliest prod-
ucts of the Movement, and came into life full fledged.
This happened naturally from the amount of attention given
the Breviary. And the Breviary furnished precisely that
portion of the ancient system of devotion which could be
incorporated into the English with the least degree of
friction, because it was adapted for private recitation, and
was so used in the Roman Church. It is true that Tract
No. 75 brought upon Newman "a great deal of censure"^^
Even Keble and Williams were frightened on learning that
two of Newman's pupils were on the point of publishing a
complete English translation of the Roman Breviary, wath
the hymns translated by Newman, who yielded to their
remonstrances with some heat.^^ But no one could interfere
with Newman's daily recitation of the Breviary Offices, and
in this practice he was soon followed by Pusey.^^ Daily
public service in the church had been established by Thomas
Keble at Bisley since 1827, later at Oxford by Newman and
Williams,^'* and also in London at the Margaret Chapel, the
chosen place at which Tract^rian principles were to be
applied to public worship. It was not possible to substitute
^^Letter to the Bishop of Oxford, Oxford 1841, p. 9.
''Williams, Autobiography, p. 103.
''H. P. Liddon, Life of Edward B. Puscy, 2nd ed., London 1893,
vol. ii, pp. 145, 146.
'^Williams, pp. 75 ff.
500 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the Breviary Offices for Morning and Evening Prayer at
such services. But Hymnody was as free for Tractarians
as for Evangelicals. And the use of the Breviary Hymns
afiforded the most available means of recognizing any de-
sired number of holy days, and of imparting a Tractarian
atmosphere to the whole service.
3. Early Tractarian Hymnals: John Mason Neale
(1836-1858)
There was therefore a need of new hymn books. The
first of note after the beginning of the movement was the
Psalms and Hymns adapted to the services of the Church
of England, published in 1836 by W. J. Hall of Tottenham.
This has generally been regarded as high church, for no
reason apparent other than the mitre embossed upon the
cover, or its arrangement of the hymns under the Sundays
of the church year, after the model of Heber. It won the
approval of the Bishop of London, and a circulation of
4,000,000 copies is claimed for it.^^ It represented the
Oxford leaders in no way, and was unacceptable to them.^^
A small collection printed by J. Holt Simpson in 1837,
Psalms and Hymns, original and selected, included some
translations of Mant, Chandler and Williams. More signifi-
cant was A Selection of Psalms, to which are added Hymns
chiefly ancient, published the same year by Dodsworth, the
incumbent of Margaret Chapel. Several of Chandler's ver-
sions are in Hymns selected for the parish of Sandhach by
J. Latham in 1841 ; and in 1842 Chandler himself revised
and arranged his translations in hymnal form, as The
Hymns of the Church, mostly primitive, collected, trans-
lated and arranged for public use (London, Parker). In
1849 appeared Introits and Hymns for Margaret Chapel
(enlarged ed. 1852) ;.and two books of 1850, Henry Stret-
ton's Church Hymns, and Joseph Oldknow's Hymns for
^'"Cf. Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, p. 336.
"Jno. M. Neale in The Christian Remembrancer, (1850), calls it
"one of the worst."
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 501
the services of the Church, are largely made up of the trans-
lations of the Oxford group. An anonymous London
Hymn Book for the use of churches and chapels intro-
duced some of the versions of Edward Caswall. His Lyra
Catholica, appearing in 1849, contained versions of all the
hymns in the Roman Breviary and Missal. Caswall was
among the earliest Oxford Tractarians to pass over (in the
succeeding year) to Rome. But his translations found
general favor, and were reprinted in New York in 1851.
This early group of Tractarian hymnals evinces the dis-
position of a widening circle to follow the Oxford leaders
in their search for the old paths. They accepted the mate-
rials furnished by the Oxford translators, and employed it
with little knowledge or discrimination. The books might
serve to experiment with in local use, but no one of them
commended itself to Tractarians generally, or was worthy
to become the nucleus of an "Anglo-Catholic Hymnal."
These facts were set forth in an article on "English
Hymnology, its History and Prospects," contributed by
John Mason Neale to The Christian Remembrancer in 1850.
This pungent paper reviewed the current Evangelical Hyni-
nody in a very contemptuous spirit, but dealt just as freely
with the Oxford translators : — Their zeal for the newly dis-
covered primitive Hymnody had carried them off their feet,
and in choosing the Paris Breviary, they had mistaken the
new paths for the old; their work was careless and inade-
quate, and its metres badly chosen ; as embodied in the new
hymn books, it was unworthy of acceptance by the Church.
At the time, Neale's proposals for the ideal hymnal did not
go beyond a better selection and better translation of the
Breviary Hymns, with some 12 or 15 of the best English
hymns added, the whole to be revised by competent
scholars.
No man in England had an equal right with Neale to say
these things. And this paper may be said to mark the point
of contact of his gifts and scholarship with the actual
Hymnody of the Church. He was among the earliest Cam-
502 THE ENGLISH HYMN
bridge disciples of the Tractarian Movement, already spend-
ing the long vacations in researches in ecclesiastical archae-
ology.^''^ He made himself a master of post-classic Latin,
and began to prepare for a history of the mediaeval Latin
poets. ^^ These neglected authors he loved for their own
sake, accounting Adam of St. Victor the greatest Latin poet
of all ages.^^
Neale pursued his hymnological studies with life-long
ardor, and with results that put the study of mediaeval
Hymnody upon a new basis for English-speaking people.
His study of "The Ecclesiastical Latin Poetry of the Middle
Ages" contributed to Encyclopaedia Mctropolitana,'^^ laid
out the field. By patient researches among the manuscript
sources on the continent, he "brought to light a multitude
of hymns unknown before." ^^ In his treatise on Se-
quences,^^ he for the first time revealed the actual essence
and structure of these most characteristic hymns of the
Middle Ages. And by his translations he added a great
wealth of mediaeval Hymnody to the actual resources of
English-speaking Churches. Of these versions the earliest
were gathered in 1851 as Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences;
ninety- four appeared in the Hymnal noted in 1852-54. The
Rhythm of Bernard followed in 1858, and Hymns chiefly
mediaeval in 1865. After Neale's death a few more of his
translations appeared in 6*. Margaret's Hymnal (privately
printed, 1875).
These translations have been challenged by Roman Cath-
olics, on the one hand, as wanting in fidelity to the whole
doctrinal contents of the originals, and on the other by
Protestants as importing too much of the Roman atmos-
phere into the Church of England. On the whole it may be
"E. A. Towle, John Mason Ncalc, London, 1906, p. 35.
^Hbid., p. 31.
"Preface to his Mediaeval Hymns, 2nd ed., p. ix.
="Vol. 25.
"Printed in The Ecclesiologist, of which he was joint editor.
"^Originally attached to his Mediaeval Hymns, and enlarged for
Daniel's Thesaurus Hymnoloqicus.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 503
said of Neale's method of translation that his aim was prac-
tical and his ameliorations or omissions were generally those
suggested by prudence or good taste, with a view to the
admission of the hymns to the Church of England. A
literal fidelity would have gratified a few scholars. As it
was, these strong and beautiful versions just filled the needs
of contemporary and later Tractarians, and many of them
passed the bounds not only of party but of the Church of
England, and gave a new color to Protestant Hymnody.
The atmosphere of the time was favorable to the dissemina-
tion of the monastic conceptions of religion. Evangelicalism
itself was more other-worldly than now. And Dr. Neale
was able to say that his "J^^^^^alem the golden" was the
most popular hymn of the Church.
This practical aim of Dr. Neale rapidly developed into
nothing short of a proposal that the Church of England
should forego the use of English Protestant hymns alto-
gether in favor of English versions of the pre-Reformation
hymns. He had been careful to preserve the original metres
and rhythm of these hymns in his own work, and now took
the position that if they were to be sung at all, they lost
greatly by being separated from their original melodies. He
argued, moreover, that the Gregorian music had not only
the claim of a remote antiquity, reaching back in some part
to the usage of the first temple, but that it was the only
music that had any imprimatur of the Church acting in its
corporate capacity.^^
This proposal Neale embodied in a hymn book, under the
sanction and with the co-operation of the Ecclesiological
Society, and the musical editorship of Thomas Helmore.
The first part of the Hymnal noted appeared in 1852, con-
taining 46 hymns, mostly from the Sarum office books, set
to their plain-song melodies; the second part in 1854. with
59 hymns from various ancient sources : the work in final
form with accompanying harmonies in 1858; 94 of the 105
hymns being Neale's own work.
■'Preface to Hymnal noted, ed. 1858.
504 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In this hymnal the seekers for the ancient paths had
reached their goal. But their position was inevitably lonely.
The average organist and singer could not even decipher
the strange Gregorian notation. The general absence of
definite rhythm and clear melody and the accumulation of
unessential notes in the festal tunes, put the congregational
performance of this ancient music among things least
likely of attainment. The number of cathedral and paro-
chial authorities prepared to return to the hymns and tunes
of the Sarum office books was inconsiderable.
We feel, in looking back, that proposals so revolutionary
and so impracticable might not only have failed to accom-
plish their purpose, but might have caused also a reaction
in which the whole subject of a liturgical Hymnody should
have sunk out of the hearing of English-speaking Churches.
But such was not the case. The Hymnal noted had but a
trifling adoption.^^ It met with ridicule and contempt in
certain quarters. But it was also a full realization of Trac-
tarian dreams of a "Catholic" Hymnal.
Neale's proposals remain in the mind of the more con-
sistent Anglicans as an ideal that has never been foregone.
There has never ceased to be a party to keep before the
Church the paramount claims of the ancient hymns set to
the ancient tunes. The place of the hymns is now secure
enough. The opportunity of the Gregorian music is equally
free. Quite beyond the bounds of Tractarianism, the his-
toric sense is gratified by the use of historic hymns set to
their proper tunes. But it still remains to the advocates
of Gregorian music to convince the English peoples that it
contributes, as a whole, either to their edification or their
pleasure. It is, however, to be noted that each of the three
latest Church of England hymnals in wide use makes pro-
vision for singing a number of the more liturgical hymns
"It became best known through its long use at St. Alban's, Holborn,
where it furnished words and melodies for the "Office Hymns," which
were supplemented by hearty congregational song provided for in a
series of supplements and the very modern "St. Alban's Tune Book."
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 505
to their plain-song melodies. Such unanimity is interesting:
its effects remain to be seen.
In other directions also Dr. Neale's work for Hymnody
was of note ; in his zeal for a better Children's Hymnody,
and his carols and original hymns. Especially he was a
pioneer in the re-discovery of the hymns of the Greek
Church. His researches in this overlooked and not super-
ficially attractive field were pioneer work. His translations
and transfusions published as Hymns of the Eastern
Church, first appearing in 1862, again enlarged the re-
sources of the Church. Dr. Neale has performed the a
priori impossible feat of making a few of the Greek hymns
a part of the standard Hymnody of English-speaking
Churches, even though by methods of free dealing and
adjustment. In the way thus opened, a small school of
hymn translators has followed. In the People's Hymnal of
Dr. Littledale (1867), no less than 28 Greek Church hymns
appear as candidates for actual use. With such recognition
of a new field, Allen William Chatfield published in 1876
his Songs and Hymns of earliest Greek Christian Poets,
and, among others, Robert Maude Moorsom followed in
1901 with his Renderings of Church Hymns from Eastern
and Western Office Books. The most diligent, and not the
least successful, present worker in this great field is a Scot-
tish Presbyterian, Dr. John Brownlie of Port Patrick. In
Hymns of the Greek Church (1900), Hymns of the Holy
Eastern Church (1902), Hymns from the Greek Office
Books (1904), and the other volumes of his extending
series he has dealt in varying fashion with a large body of
suggestive material. And some of his renderings of Greek
Church hymns have been given place in recent Church of
England hymnals.
Greek Hymnody has a special interest to that party in
the English Church which turns toward the Eastern
Church rather than to Protestants for any immediate reali-
zation of church unity. But the barriers separating the
Eastern and Western mind and taste are conspicuous in
5o6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Hymnody. And the translating of a Greek hymn for
English use is really a process of filtering it through an
English mind.^^
4. The Emergence of "Hymns Ancient and Modern"
(1861)
The decade following the publication of Neale's Hymnal
noted was one of marked activity in Church of England
Hymnody. Almost every school and tendency expressed
itself in a hymn book, but as a whole the trend was in
favor of the high church party, and ended in their ascend-
ency.
A Selection of Psalms and Hymns arranged for the public
services of the Church of England, by Charles Kemble of
Bath (London, 1853) ^^ one of a number that proceeded
in the old-fashioned ways, as though nothing had happened.
It found extensive use, and was modernized in 1873, but
was regarded by the Oxford party as unchurchly.^'^
The Evangelical succession had been duly maintained by
such earlier books as Josiah Pratt's popular "Collection" of
1829, and especially Edward Bickersteth's Christian Psalm-
ody (1833: revised, 1841), the representative hymn book
of those putting the emphasis on Christian experience. It
was carried forward in Edward H. Bickersteth's Psalms
and Hymns, based on the Christian Psalmody of his father
(1858), which in turn was enlarged to become the best
known Evangelical hymn book of our own time.
And in the same way a little collection of Hymns pub-
lished in 1852 by the Society for the Promotion of Chris-
tian Knowledge, was to develop by successive revisions
(1855, 1863, 1869) into the Church Hymns of 1871, which
gained much vogue in the musical edition of Sir Arthur
Sullivan (1874), and which in its last revision continues to
be the only formidable rival of Hymns ancient and modern,
^'^Cf. Moorsom, op. cit., p. xx.
"C/. W. H. B. Proby, Annals of the "Low-Church" Party, London,
1888, vol. ii, pp. 505-508.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 507
representing a lower type of sacramental doctrine and a less
self-assertive churchmanship.
The Psalms and Hymns for public and private zvorship
(1855) of Edward Walker of Cheltenham, whose reprint-
ings extended into the '80s, filled an unique function in
introducing to the knowledge and use of the Church a large
number of hymns by a group of men who had recently
assumed the distinctive name of Plymouth Brethren. The
peculiarities of their faith were already embodied in a series
of hymn books: — Hymns for the use of the Church of
Christ, by R. C. Chapman (1837), A Selection of Hymns
by Sir Edzvard Denny (1839), J. N. Wigram's Hymns for
the poor of the Hock (1838) and J. G. Deck's Psalms and
Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1842). To these all four of
the editors, with J. N. Darby the founder of the sect, con-
tributed original hymns, of which other worldliness and the
all-sufficiency of the Lamb of God are the special themes.
Walker, who was Deck's brother-in-law, printed over thirty
of his hymns, one the well-known "O Lamb of God, still
keep me," and twenty of Sir Edward Denny's, including
"What grace, O Lord, and beauty shone" and "Light of the
lonely pilgrim's heart."
The interest in German Hymnody had been quickened
by the good work done in Frances E. Cox's Sacred Hymns
from the German (1841) and Henry J. BuckoU's Hymns
translated from the German (1842). This found expres-
sion in the Psalms and Hymns, partly original, partly
selected (Cambridge, 1851) of Arthur T. Russell, in which
the German hymns played a very large part, the Latin a
very small one; the very arrangement of the hymns being
based on old Lutheran hymn books. In 1854 appeared
Richard Massie's Martin Luther's Spiritual Songs, and the
first of four parts (1854-1862) of Hymns from the Land
of Luther by Jane Borthwick and her sister Sarah Find-
later. In 1855 and 1858 Catherine Winkworth published
the first and second series of her Lyra Gcnnanica, and A\as
to follow them in 1863 '^v^^h The Chorale Book for England.
5o8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
The work of this group of translators, and notably of Miss
Winkworth, has secured a firm place in English hymn books
for a number of German hymns.
German hymns and chorals had a part in the Church
Psalter and Hymn Book of William Mercer of Sheffield
(1854). Much interest in its preparation was taken by
James Montgomery, in his last years an attendant of Mer-
cer's church. This was the most successful of all the books
of the decade, from the standpoint of actual use; partly
because it contained the prose Psalter set for chanting and
the tunes of the hymns edited by Sir John Goss. It was
used in St. Paul's Cathedral until 1871, ten years after the
publication of Hymns ancient and modern.^^ This book
represents one of the characteristic movements of the dec-
ade; a desire to get the Hymnody back into the people's
hands and make it congregational. This grew partly out of
observation of the hearty congregational song of dissenting
churches; that of Dr. Allon's in London attracting wide
attention. It was favored also by the disposition to open the
naves of cathedrals for popular services, a project effected
at St. Paul's in 1858.^^ The success of congregational sing-
ing of the better type required a return to the Reformation
practice of including the tunes, as well as words, in the
people's hymn books. This seems to have been first done in
W. J. Blew's Church Hymn and Tune Book of 1852. But
his book was impracticable. In Mercer's book of 1854 it
was done effectively, and though not immediately followed,
it set the permanent standard, and marks the transition to
the modern type of Church of England hymnal. Godfrey
Thring's Church of England Hymn Book of 1880 was the
last one of any note to appear without music, although
word editions of the others are generally furnished.
The extreme devotion to the Latin Church Hymnody ex-
emplified in Dr. Neale, was also embodied during the decade
by William J. Blew in his Church Hymn and Tune Book
"Bumpus, English Cathedral Music, London, n. d., vol. ii, p. 513.
^'Bumpus, ut supra.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 509
(1852) just referred to. He thus greatly enriched the store
of versions of Latin hymns without appreciably affecting
the actual situation.
The key to the actual future of the Church Hymnody was
held by a group of men of Tractarian beliefs and practices,
who shared Neale's and Blew's sense of the unique position
of the hymns of the ancient and undivided Church, but who
at the same time realized that many modern hymns, includ-
ing some by dissenters, were dear to the people and spirit-
ually effective; and that a selection could be made of such as
might be used without any real violation of liturgical pro-
priety.
In such a spirit G. Cosby White published in 1852 his
Hymns and Introits, F. H. Murray in the same year A
Hymnal for use in the English Church (Mozley), as also
Cooke and Denton their Church Hymnal (London: J.
Whitaker). They were followed by Keble's and Earl Nel-
son's Salisbury Hymn Book of 1857. These were all men
in thorough sympathy with the development of church ideals
and practices that had now proceeded for a generation, and
most anxious for the adequate expression of these ideals
in a popular Church Hymnody, for which the materials
were now at hand in abundant measure. But while at one
in opinion and judgment, they were in fact competitors for
the adoption of their several books. Each book prevented
the success of the other in their own circle, and no one could
force its way into the majority of parishes, which adhered
to books representing a lower type of churchmanship.
The way out was found by the Rev. Francis H. Murray,
a Kentish rector. Through the Rev. Sir Henry Williams
Baker, he secured an agreement with the proprietors of
competing hymn books that he and they should withdraw
their respective books, and join in the preparation of a
common collection of "Hymns ancient and modern" ; and
through advertising in The Guardian, he secured the prom-
ise of 200 clergymen to co-operate. The Committee began
work in 1859; and in 1861 issued Hymns ancient and
5IO THE ENGLISH HYMN
modern for use in the services of the Church: with accom-
panying tunes compiled and arranged by William Henry
Monk (London: Novello and Co.), containing 273 hymns,
with accompanying tunes, with provision for days of the
week, feasts, fasts and services of the Prayer Book, occa-
sions and saints days, inckiding the Annunciation and
Purification of "the Blessed Virgin Mary," and a group
of 67 "General Hymns." There were 132 versions of
Latin hymns, mostly altered, 10 of German hymns, 12
original hymns, and 119 English hymns already in use.^^
The success of this book has had no parallel, except in the
case of Dr. Watts and of the Wesleyan Hymnody. Like
these earlier instances its influence went far beyond the
sphere of Hymnody. It became an effective means, in the
hands of the people who used it, for spreading broadcast not
only high church views and practices but the high church
atmosphere. But in Hymnody its part in establishing, as it
did, the type and tone of the representative Church of Eng-
land Hymnody, and its influence on the Hymnody of other
denominations, entitle its publication to rank as one of the
great events in the history of the Hymnody of the English-
speaking Churches.
In its immediate reception hostility of course mingled
with appreciation,^*^ and there are reminiscences of serious
disturbances ensuing upon attempts to introduce it. But
there must have been a large body of clergy already pre-
pared to welcome it; for in the first three years its sales
reached 350,000. Then came the Appendix of 1868, the
revised edition of 1875, the complete edition of 1889, and
the recent revision of 1904. An official inquiry, made about
1895, showed that in 13,639 churches no less than 10,340
used Hymns ancient and modern. At the same date the
"Tor the full history and contents of Hymns ancient and modern,
see the "Historical Edition" (London, 1909).
*'£. g. Edw. Harper's Strictures on Hymns ancient and modern and
on the Appendix to that work (London, n. d., 3 editions) aimed to
disclose its "treason to the Church of England."
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 511
book was used in 28 cathedrals, almost universally in the
Scottish Episcopal churches, and universally throughout the
Army and Navy. These facts prepare us to accept the state-
ment that its circulation by the end of 1912 reached the
amazing total of more than 60,000,000 copies. The further
growth of this circulation has been affected, temporarily at
least, by a refusal of the churches to accept the last revision,
on the ground mainly of omissions or alterations of familiar
hymns and tunes and a superfluity of chorals and plain
song.^^
If we seek the cause of this success, it appears that it
was partly predetermined. The ideal of a "Catholic" wor-
ship involved a liturgical Hymnody. This had been already
provided by many books. But it involved also the ideal of
uniformity, and in its interests a number of the accustomed
books had been withdrawn, and those using them com-
mitted to the new book. And the book itself answered the
demands of the moderate High Churchmen: viz., that the
daily and Sunday and sacramental and saints' day services
should be covered by the appropriate ancient hymns, and
that a body of modern hymns should be provided for general
use. And with the principle of growth recognized by suc-
cessive revisions, the book continued to satisfy them. The
opposition made to the book brought it to the universal
attention of the laity, to many of whom the ideal of ancient
hymns was thus first practically presented, and they in
increasing numbers responded to it.
It is true that Hymns ancient and modern never became
the hymnal of the entire Church of England. But it laid
down the lines of Hymnody for the whole Church, on which
even the hymnals of the Evangelical party have been content
to advance. Of these the most distinguished by far is The
Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer
^'To meet the flood of objections the compilers issued a defence,
The new Edition of Hymns ancient and modern: a survey of the
reviews; printed separately the tunes omitted from the new edition,
and reprinted the old edition for those preferring it.
512 THE ENGLISH HYMN
(1870) edited by Bishop Bickerstedi, on the plan of seeking
the hymns approved by most general use, to take the place
of his Psalms and Hymns of 1858. Its form and method
and its tunes, to say the least, especially in the revisions
of 1876 and 1890, owe much to Hymns ancient and modern.
Somewhat akin is the only important collection of the
Church of Ireland, The Church Hymnal of 1864, enlarged
and authorized in 1873 and supplemented in 1891. Notable
for its hymns and music, the work of Major G. A. Craw-
ford for its indexes of writers and composers was the best
of the kind that had been done.
In the Church of England in Canada Hymns ancient and
modern found a constantly growing acceptance. A Churcli
Hymn Book piihlished under the sanction of the Lord
Bishop of Toronto (Toronto, 1862; 3rd ed., 1863) and
Church Hymnal. Compiled and arranged by a committee
appointed by the Bishop of Montreal (Montreal, 1875),
were of a lower sacramental tone, and with other books
found considerable use; but by the end of the XlXth century
Hymns ancient and modern was reported as in use by some
seventy-five per cent of the parishes.^^ It may be added
here, for the sake of completing the record, that the vogue
of the English book has been brought to an end by the
desire of the Canadian Church for consolidation and auton-
omy. The Synod of 1908 adopted and authorized a hymnal
prepared by its committee of 1905; published as The Book
of Common Praise being the Hymn Book of the Church
of England in Canada . . . TJie music edited by Sir George
C. Martin (Oxford: the University Press, 1909) ; and put
its parishes in possession of a book hardly -excelled in the
care of its preparation and its fitness for service.^^
^"Canadian Correspondence in The Churchman (N. Y.) for October
10, 1908.
^^The prefatory matter contains a full account of its genesis. A
special interest of the book is its principle of "inclusiveness" of vary-
ing party views. See also the excellent Annotated Edition (Frowde,
1909) by James Edmund Jones, a leader in the movement for a
Canadian Church Hymnal.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 513
Within Church Hmits the hymn book remaining most
independent of Oxford influences, carrying forward the
traditions of Madan and Toplady, was Charles B. Snepp's
Songs of Grace and Glory (London: Hunt and Co., 1872).
The hymns were in three divisions, — The Trinity, the Book
and Church of God, and Man; and the type of theology is
that embodied in Miss Havergal's well known hymns, most
of which are in it. Musically the book stood for the ideals
of her father's Old Church Psalmody (1847), from which
she prepared Havergal's Psalmody and Century of Chants
(London, 1871) as a companion to Songs of Grace and
Glory. The Royal Hymnal (London: Marlborough, n. d.)
represents the party who carried their protest against Hymns
ancient and modern and all it represents to the point of
dissent, and is the authorized hymnal of the Reformed
Episcopal Church. It is of the "favorite Hymn" order,
professing to be gathered by plebiscite of those concerned.
Its difference from the Anglican books was intensified by
the refusal of their proprietors to allow the insertion of
their copyrighted material.
It was open to any one in the Church of England to
supply any deficiencies of Hymns ancient and modern, and
its various editions were followed by a line of "supple-
ments," "appendixes," and "supplemental tune books" for
parochial use, as well as by numerous independent collec-
tions, of which The Parish Hymn Book (1863), Alford's
Year of Praise (1867), The Temple Church Hymn Book
(1867), Earl Nelson's Sarum Hymnal (1868), The Angli-
can Hymn Book (1868), Monsell's The Parish Hymnal
(1873), Common Praise (1879), The Office Hymn Book
(1889), Darling's Hymns for the Church of England
(1889), and some others are remembered, if at all, for the
sake of their contribution of some hymn or tune to the
common stock.
Hymns ancient and modern became also something like
a point of departure in constructing hymn books for the
more extreme high church and ritualistic parties, with
514 THE ENGLISH HYMN
constantly advancing standards of doctrine and ceremonial.
The People s Hymnal (1867) was prepared by Dr. R. F.
Littledale and J. E. Vaux to furnish high sacramental
hymns and to give emotional hymns combined with the
more sober ancient ones for singing by the people. Dr.
Neale's coadjutor, Benjamin Webb, with Canon W. Cooke,
brought out The Hymnary: a book of Church Song (1870,
1872) ; the most complete manual of High Anglican Hym-
nody, in its provision for hour and day, times, seasons and
occasions, with a view to daily "celebrations." There is
great use of Latin hymns, much new material and alteration
of the old, and an ecclesiastical if not monastic atmosphere
remote from actual life. Its musical editor. Sir Joseph
Barnby, gave it such importance as a source-book of tunes,
that it is generally known as "Barnby's Hymnary." Of the
hymn books providing for a worship centering in the Real
Presence upon the altar TJic Eucharistic Hymnal (1877)
has the most original material; but far the most elaborate
is The Altar Hymnal (1884) prepared mainly by Miss
Claudia F. Hernaman, a hymn writer and editor of several
children's hymnals. It contains full materials for the choral
celebration of the mass according to the "Sarum Use,"
with the hymns "proper of season" and "common."
5. The Anglican Hymnody and Church Music
Verse writing was as characteristic of the Tractarian
propaganda as it had been of the VVesleyan, and the talent
for it much more widely diffused. Keble's The Christian
Year ushered in the Movement, and the series of poems,
contributed to The British Magazine by Newman, Keble,
Froude and others, and reprinted as Lyra Apostolica (1833)
was contemporaneous with Tracts for the times. Bishop
Mant's Holy days of the Church ( 1828-31 ) was even earlier,
and Isaac Williams published The Cathedral in 1838, The
Baptistery in 1842 and The Altar in 1847. I" 1846 Keble
followed up The Christian Year with Lyra Innocentium.
The motive of this earlier verse writing was not to
THE OXFORD RI- VI\'AL 515
enrich worship, but with a view of "recalling or recommend-
ing , . . important Christian truths ... in a way to be
forgotten." ^^ And so long as the Latin hymns kept their
glamor, original hymn writing was held subsidiary to the
work of translating them. Nevertheless the new enthusi-
asm and ideals of worship called for new and appropriate
hymns, and the editors of hymn books and others set them-
selves at an early date to meet the demand. The hymns of
Joseph Anstice were published posthumously in 1836,
Bishop Mant's in 1837, the first of J. S. B. Monsell's many
volumes in 1837, Williams' Hymns on the Catechism in
1842, William J. Blew's in his hymn book of 1852, and
Henry Collins' Hymns for Missions in 1854.
The Oxford hymn writing thus (naturally) preceded
the publication of Hymns ancient and modern, and it would
be unjust to claim that the successive editions of that book
became the medium for the publication of Anglican hymns
in the way the Gospel Magadne had served for the publi-
cation of the early Evangelical hymns. It did not become
even an anthology of the new Hymnody. It is true none
the less that every important name among Anglican hymn
writers is represented in one or other edition of Hymns
ancient and modern,^^ that it was the means of introducing
these men to the church at large, and that it still affords
the most convenient approach to a numbering of the new-
Anglican school of hymn writers.
The largest contributor to the first edition of Hymns
ancient and modern (1861) was its editor, Sir Henry Wil-
Hams Baker, but his "The King of Love my Shepherd is"
did not appear till 1868. Of the Oxford school (apart
from translations) Keble had eight pieces, Neale four,
Henry Collins two ("Jesu, meek and lowly" and "Jesu,
my Lord, my God, my All"), Joseph Anstice two (includ-
ing "O Lord, how happy should we be"), Emma Toke
^'Preface to Lyra Apostolica.
^''William J. Blew, R. R. Chope, and Greville Phillimore are possible
exceptions.
5i6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
two ("Glory to Thee, O Lord" and "Thou hast gone up
on high"); and the following one each: — Cecil F. Alex-
ander ("The roseate hues of early dawn"), R. M. Benson,
Edward Churton, W. Chatterton Dix ("As with gladness
men of old"), Henry Downton, John H. Gurney ("Lord,
as to Thy dear cross we flee), W. Walsham How, Bishop
Mant, J. E. Millard, Edward Osier, George R. Prynne,
William J. Irons, G. H. Smyttan, William Whiting ("Eter-
nal Father, strong to save"), Gilbert Rorison, W. B.
Heathcote and Thomas Whytehead.
Of this group Keble is generally regarded as the founder
of Anglican Hymnody, and Neale is important even apart
from his translations; Mrs. Alexander attained something
like fame as a writer for children; Chatterton Dix reached
high distinction, as did Bishop How both as writer and co-
editor of the S. P. C. K. hymnals; and most of the others
wrote hymns still in use.
The new contributors to the 1868 Appendix were Sabine
Baring Gould ("Now the day is over") whose picturesque
"Onward, Christian soldiers" was also included; Henry
Twells ("At even, ere the sun was set"), Lawrence Tuttiett
("O quickly come, dread Judge of all"), Mrs. Eliza S.
Alderson, J. J. Daniel, William Bright, and V. S. C. Coles.
Of Anglican writers whom it brought into wider use were
Christopher Wordsworth ("O day of rest and gladness"),
whose The Holy Year (1862), only a year later than
Hymns ancient and modern, has an important place, not as
a hymn book and not only for its original hymns, but for
the influence of its preface, insisting on the conformity of
hymns to Scripture, and urging that liturgical restraint
should exclude the "I" hymns in favor of the "we" of a
corporate body; Samuel J. Stone ("The Church's one
Foundation," a masterpiece of didactic Hymnody, and
"Weary of earth and laden with my sin," transcending
"hturgical" limits); E. H. Plumptre ("O Light, whose
beams illumine all," and "Thine arm, O Lord, in days of
old") ; John Ellerton ("Saviour, again to Thy dear Name
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 517
we raise" and "This is the day of light"), more intimately-
associated with the S. P. C. K. Church Hymns, and possibly
the best of the Liturgical hymn writers;^'' Godfrey Thring
("Saviour, blessed Saviour," "Fierce raged the tempest o'er
the deep," "The radiant morn hath passed away"), Mary
F. Maude ("Thine for ever, God of love"), and Lewis
Hensley ("Thy kingdom come, O God"). The inclusion
of Newman's "Lead, kindly Light" set to music by Dr.
Dykes, was an event in itself.
Of the writers of hymns added in the 1875 edition of
Hymns ancient and modern, William D. Maclagan ("Lord,
when Thy Kingdom comes, remember me") is best known;
but the hymns most widely copied are J. E. Bode's "O Jesu,
I have promised," Caroline M. Noel's "At the Name of
Jesus," I. Gregory Smith's "By Jesus' grave on either
hand," George S. Hodge's "Hosanna we sing, like the
children dear," Archer T. Gurney's "Christ is risen; Christ
is risen," and W. St. H. Bourne's "The sower went forth
sowing." A group of men better known as translators
were represented by original hymns, — John Chandler, J. W.
Hewett, A. W. Chatfield, Gerard Moultrie, James R. Wood-
ford, and D. T. Morgan. A department of Metrical
Litanies by R. F. Littledale, Thomas B. Pollock, and the
editors, was added in this edition. It gave currency to a
type of hymn, then comparatively new, which best fulfills
the definition of a hymn as Liturgical Verse, and has re-
sulted in the general acceptance of the new type.
The "Supplemental Hymns" of 1889 gave recognition as
hymn writers to Archbishop Benson, Dean Hole, John
Julian, F. W. Farrar, F. T. Palgrave and the picturesque
R. S. Hawker; and for the first time included hymns by
the veterans, J. S. B. Monsell ("Fight the good fight")
and Edward Harland. It gave status to Dorothy Blom-
field's Wedding Hymn, "O perfect Love, all human thought
transcending," and confirmed that of E. A. Dayman's "The
'Tor Ellerton's hymns and the history of Church Hymns, see H.
Housman, John Ellerton, S. P. C. K., 1896.
5i8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Lord be with us when we sail," and Francis Potts' "Angel-
voices, ever singing." Of the contributors or newer hymn
writers Arthur J. Mason and Claudia F. Hernaman belong
with the extreme school of Anglicanism; Jackson Mason
shows most vigor as a translator; while W. H. Turton's
"Thou, Who at Thy first Eucharist didst pray" has become
a favorite hymn of sacramental unity.
It is only by such particularizing that one gains any real
sense of the extent and importance of the contribution of
the Oxford school to English Hymnody, and of the ele-
ments it has infused into the English Hymn; and inci-
dentally of the quite unparalleled part which Hymns ancient
and modern has played in the development of modern
Hymnody. In appraising this influence we must add also
its share in acclimating the Latin, Greek and German hymns
and in making accessible the work of the group of men
who, like Newman, left the English Church for the Roman,
such as F, W. Faber, Edward Caswall, E. Oakeley, Henry
Collins and M. Brydges.
To the Hymnody of Christian Experience as carried
forward by the Evangelical school within the Church of
England during the period under review Hymns ancient
and modern was inevitably less hospitable; although its
inclusions of Charlotte Elliott, Dean Alford, Bishop
Bickersteth and Miss Havergal, gave to the great body of
the Church its only knowledge of their hymns.
These four are the outstanding names of the Evangelical
school. Henry Alford published hymns in The Christian
Observer as early as 1830; printed "In token that thou shalt
not fear" in The British Magazine in 1832; his Harvest
Hymn, "Come, ye thankful people, come" in his Psalms
and Hymns (1844) for Wymeswold; and many more in
his The Year of Praise (1867) for Canterbury Cathedral.
Though not sacramentarian, his views and hymns were
distinctively liturgical. Hugh Stowell of Manchester con-
tributed many hymns to his Selection of Psalms and Hymns
(1831) in its numerous editions, and his son, Canon
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 519
Thomas A. Stowell, carried forward both the Selection and
the hymn writing. Charlotte ElHott printed hymns in
The Invalid's Hymn Book, in her brother's somewhat im-
portant Psalms and Hymns for public, private and social
zvorship ( 1835) and in later volumes of her own work. She
was the typical Evangelical, with the devoutness and plain-
tive note of Anne Steele and a better style. Her ministry
in the sick room is beyond estimate : her best known hymns
are the three in Hymns ancient and modern : — "Just as I
am," "My God and Father, while I stray," "Christian,
seek not yet repose." Julia Ann Marshall's (who married
H. V. Elliott) Poems on sacred subjects (1832) is remem-
bered by her "Great Creator, who this day." Miss Anna L.
Waring's Hymns and Meditations (1854, 1863) share the
method and beauty of Miss Elliott's work.
Bishop John Charles Ryle became the leader of the
Evangelicals, though his Spiritual Songs (nth ed, i860),
The additional Hymn Book (1875), and Hymns for the
Church on Earth (i860), had only a minor importance in
its song. But the great task of furnishing an adequate
hynm book fell to Bishop Bickersteth. His Hymnal Com-
panion, already referred to, practically superseded all other
Evangelical books and by 1893 was used in 1478 churches.^'^
His hymns of sentiment are represented by "Peace, perfect
peace," and "Till He come ! O let the word." To this time
belongs F'rances Ridley Havergal, the most voluminous,
most diffuse and best loved of the Evangelical school,
whose hymns were gathered into volumes ranging from
1869 to 1883. Her "I gave My life for thee," "Take my
life, and let it be" and "Lord, speak to me that I may
speak," reveal her supreme devotion to the spiritual life;
"Golden harps are sounding" is her nearest approach to
the Liturgical Hymn.
William Pennefather furnished Hymns original and
selected, by W. P. (1872) for his Mildmay Conference,
'■'G. R. Balleine, A History of the Evangelical Party, London, 1908,
p. 282,
520 THE ENGLISH HYMN
and quite a Keswick school of hymn writers is represented
in J. Mountain's Hymns of Consecration and Faith (n. d.
c. 1876) ; many of them followers of Miss Havergal or of
the "Gospel Song" model. Some of the hymns of Bishop
H, C. G. Moule, included in his prose books of devotion,
are also favorites of the Keswick Convention. The hymns
of Charles D. Bell, often of considerable beauty, have not
gone much beyond his Appendix to Walker s Psalms and
Hymns ( 1873) ^^^ that to the Hymnal Companion ( 1884) ,
his Hymns for the Church and Chamber (1882), and his
comely Church of England Hymnal (1895). The hymns
of W. M. H. Aitken are mainly connected with the recent
evangelistic movement in the Church of England and found
in the mission hymn books. ^^ It may be that in course of
time they will be regarded as indicating a development of
Church of England Hymnody as notable as that effected by
the Anglicans.
The Anglican Hymnody as i)resented in Hymns ancient
and modern could not have won the acceptance it did apart
from the music with which it was associated; for a hymn
has no mission until an acceptable musical setting is found.
This finds illustration in Newman's "Lead, kindly Light,"
which was written in 1833, but whose popularity began
only when Dykes' "Lux Benigna" was set to it in the
Appendix of 1868; a fact of which the Cardinal was well
aware.^*^
In the years preceding Hymns ancient and modern much
had been done for Congregational Song. Henry Parr in
his Church of England Psalmody (1847) investigated and
recovered the older English psalm tunes, and W. H. Haver-
gal in his Old Church Psalmody (1847) ^^^ Dr. Maurice
in his Choral Harmony (1854) introduced many of the
German chorals. The "Society for promoting Church
Music" dealt especially with the choir parts of the service,
^'For these see his article in Julian's Dictionary, 2nd suppl., p. 1672.
^'J. T. Fowler, Life and Letters of John Bacchus Dykes, London,
1897, p. 104.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 521
with some interest in the movement to set plain song melo-
dies to Latin hymns which culminated in Helmore's Accom-
fyanying Harmonics to the Hymnal noted (1852-58). But
its periodical, The Parish Choir, held aloof from congre-
gational hymn singing, because of the conflicting opinions
involved and its own question of the legality of the prac-
tice.*'^ Eventually it fell in with the current movement
and published a collection of hymn and psalm tunes.
The older leaders, Goss, Elvey, S. S. Wesley and others,
based their own composition upon the solid psalm tunes,
but a newer type of hymn tune, based on the secular part-
song of the period, came to the fore in thirteen tunes con-
tributed to John Grey's Hymnal (1857) by John B. Dykes,
precentor of Durham cathedral. Hearing of the proposed
Hymns ancient and modern, Dykes sent seven tunes in-
cluding "Horbury," "Melita" and "Hollingside," which
were accepted by its musical editor, William H. Monk;'*^
and from first to last fifty-five of his tunes were included
in the book.*^ These tunes, with Monk's own rich contri-
butions and those of Elvey, Gauntlett, Redhead, Reinagle
and others, with Monk's choice and arrangement of ancient
melodies and psalm tunes, crystallized the musical tendencies
of the time into a definite form of Anglican hymn tune,
with restrained melodies and close harmonies wonderfully
adapted to liturgical worship, and yet appealing to the taste
of the people. These tunes constituted the immediate appeal
of the book not only within but beyond the bounds of the
Church. Into the choir lofts of a great many dissenting
churches it was introduced simply as a tunebook, from
which to render their own hymns, but in many homes the
hymns to which they were set also became familiar. The
hymns as well as the tunes of the Anglican school soon
began to find their way into the books of the dissenting
Churches and the Church of Scotland. And, largely through
*^The Parish Choir, Oct. 1847, p. 21,
"Fowler, p. 71.
"Ibid., p. 321.
522 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the medium of Hymns ancient and modern, the Oxford
Movement has become one of the marked factors in giving
its present form and manner and contents to the Hymnody
and the hymn books of these Churches, and of those across
the sea.
II
OXFORD INFLUENCES ON THE HYMNODY OF
ENGLISH DISSENT
I. Liturgical Ideals in Congregationalist and
Baptist Worship (1861-1900)
Even from the musical side it would be difficult to
measure with actual precision the influence of the Oxford
Movement upon the dissenting Churches of England. We
must remember that Hymns ancient and modern itself was
to some extent a product of the middle century movement
to improve church music in which dissent had a consider-
able part. The lectures of John Hullah, and the great
Psalmody classes of the Rev. J. J. Waite, were to a large
extent among Nonconformists, and Dr. Allon led in an
actual demonstration of the possibilities of Congregational
Song at his Union Chapel. Dr. Gauntlett made himself a
connecting link between the Church and dissent, editing the
second part of Waite's Tlie Hallelujah (1849), leading the
worship at Union Chapel, and editing Dr. Allon's The
Congregational Psalmist (1858), of which over 50,000
copies were circulated.'*^ The movement moreover had
the announced purpose of giving not only more simplicity
but also an ecclesiastical tone to the music.^^ But when,
with Hymns ancient and modern, the movement developed
into an Anglican school and crystallized into a distinctive
Anglican type of hymn tune, it speedily became recognized
by dissent as well as in the Church as the prevailing school
"Preface of 1867.
"Preface to The Hallelujah (1849), p. iv,
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 523
of church music. The evidence of this is not merely the
appropriation by dissenting Churches of the AngHcan tunes
but their putting their successive hymn books into the hands
of the AngHcan leaders for musical editing. For this pur-
pose Dr. Allon had the services of Dr. Gauntlett, and, for
his last revision of The Congregational Psalmist Hymnal,
of Monk himself. The Presbyterians chose Dr. Rimbault
to edit their hymn book of 1866. And when the Wesleyan
Methodists issued the New Supplement to Wesley's Collec-
tion, they turned over its musical editing to Dr. Gauntlett,
then to George Cooper, and, at his death, to Dr. Hopkins ;
notwithstanding the distinctiveness of their own musical
traditions and their wish that the best of these should be
preserved.
In most of the denominations the introduction of the
Anglican chant, set to prose Psalms and the Prayer Book
canticles, followed that of the hymn tunes; also the choir-
anthem, and in many churches anthems rendered by a
trained congregation. As illustrating the development we
may take the later authorized praise books of two denomi-
nations, already referred to. The Congregational Church
Hymnal (1888) and The Baptist Church Hymnal (1900).
They are very complete and in construction identical, each
in three sections. Section i is a rich collection of hymns
set to an even larger collection of tunes in which the
Anglican standard prevails. Section 2 is the "Litanies and
Chants," a collection of metrical litanies and pointed Psalms,
Scriptures, "ancient Hymns of the Church" etc. The Bap-
tist is the fuller, with eight settings of the Sanctus, five of
Kyrie, Baptismal and offertory sentences and Amens, with
special provision for Christmas, Good Friday, Easter and
Whitsuntide. The 3rd section of each book is a large
selection of anthems and of the Prayer Book canticles set
antheni-wise.
Comparing these authorized praise books with Dr. Watts'
"System of Praise" that once sufficed in both denomina-
tions, it would be idle to pretend that no change has come
524 THE ENGLISH HYMN
over the ideals and practice of Nonconformist worship, or
to raise any question as to the influences that have brought
it about. It was, more than anything else, the Anglican
Music that brought into and diffused through these Churches
a liturgical atmosphere in which the old simplicities with-
ered, and from the little collections of verses which were
the praise books of an earlier time developed and sustained
these stately structures, in which indeed the music so dom-
inates as almost to obscure the words. There is special
significance also in the fact that neither denomination had
further need to call upon Anglican musicians, but from the
generation now grown up within its own ranks each was
able to produce musicians fully capable of giving an An-
glican setting to its worship.
Turning now to the influence of the Oxford Hymnody,
on its literary side, upon Nonconformist ideals and practice,
it could not be claimed that it spread its high sacramen-
tarian doctrine or that it supplanted the more subjective
Hymnody of dissent by the Liturgical Hymn. But it did
nevertheless recommend the observance of first the feasts
and more gradually the fasts of the Christian Year. And
in doing so it infused more of the festal tone into the
Lord's Supper, which had become in reality the Noncon-
formist Good Friday and the special occasion for the
Passion Hymn. The Oxford Hymnody was a Liturgical
Hymnody that centred at the altar as distinctively as Non-
conformist Hymnody was an Evangelical Hymnody that
centred in the personal experience of salvation. And the
surprise in the case is not that Nonconformity should have
found a new ground for dissent in the sacramentarian
teachings of the Oxford Hymns, but that it should have
been open-hearted enough to perceive much that was good
and elevating in the new Hymnody and to utilize it freely
for its own ends. In this way Nonconformist Hymnody
was immensely enriched, and though not transformed was
happily broadened out on the distinctively worshipful side
of Church Song.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 525
Dr. Allon's Supplemental Hymns for public worship
(1868). published a year later than The People's Hymnal,
has for its preface an apologia which may serve as a per-
manent record of the appreciative but strictly discriminating
spirit in which Nonconformity began its appropriation of
the new Hymnody of the Oxford Revival as a desirable
"supplement" to its own: —
"The remarkable development of Hymnology during the last few
years — in the Romish and Anglican Churches especially, in which
hitherto it has been neglected and disparaged — has produced innumer-
able writers of hymns, of various degrees of excellence. It is in these
churches chiefly, strange to say, that both the poetry and the music
of our church-song are just now threatened with a corruption as
meretricious as that which, in former times, was charged upon Puritans
and Methodists. But just as the latjter could also boast great singers
like Dr. Watts and Charles Wesley, with whose hymns no book of
church-song could now dispense; so modern Romanists and Anglicans
have contributed very beautiful and very precious additions to the
worship of the church: first, by fine translations of old Church Hymns;
and next, by original compositions of great fervour and excellence.
Many of these have so rapidly and so deservedly become popular, that
it is very generally felt to be desirable that they should be available
for use in churches. . . . From the unhappy polemics that now array
churches in hostile parties, and that are specially associated with rival
Hymnals, the Free Churches of Great Britain are happily exempt;
no suspicion of sinister proclivities attaches itself to them, because
they use hymns derived from Romish or Anglican sources. They are
able, therefore, to introduce into their worship whatever, either in
words or in music, may contribute to their devoutness and joy. . . .
The Sacramentarian developments of late years have supplied a great
number of tender and devout Hymns for the Lord's Table, where,
if anywhere, sanctified affection demands free expression. Of these
I have freely availed myself; avoiding, I hope, every taint of the
fatal heresy for which, chiefly, at the Reformation, English Christians
forsook the Church of Rome."
2. The Presbyterians Enrich xA.nglican Music (1866)
Inquiry as to the materials of Praise began in the Synod
of 1841,'*^ but throughout the Church there was much
prejudice against hymns,'*'' and nothing was accomplished
*'^Acts and proceedings of the Synod, 1841, p. 20.
*"See "Psalms and Hymns" in The English Presbyterian Messenger,
Feb. 1849.
526 THE ENGLISH HYMN
till the authorization in 1856^" and publication in 1857 of a
small collection of Paraphrases and Hymns to supplement
the Scottish Psalms of David in metre. It was one of
those meagre and timid collections with which each of the
Presbyterian Churches in Great Britain began its tentative
hymn singing, and it satisfied nobody. Introduced by the
session of Regent Square Church, the opposition was so
loud that a count of heads became expedient,'*^ and then a
course of lectures by the pastor, Dr. James Hamilton, to
justify the session. Dr. Hamilton became the great cham-
pion of hymns, publishing his Regent Square lectures as
The Psalter and Hymn Book (London: Nisbet, 1865), and
the leader of the hymn lovers in their dissatisfaction with
the collection of 1857. When the demand for an enlarged
Hymnody grew widespread, but Synodical action remained
hesitant, he formed with others a voluntary company'*^
(with the tacit consent of a majority of the members of
Synod), who prepared and presented in 1866 a collection
of psalms and hymns which the Synod looked into and
authorized^*^ for publication and use as Psalms and Hymns
for divine worship. London, James Nisbet and Co., 21
Berner's street, VV. 1866. The psalms were the Scottish
Version unaltered; the hymns numbered 521.
Dr. Hamilton had hopes that English Presbyterianism
might prove a refuge for the Protestant element in the
Church of England, '^^ and his book made no concessions
to the principles or methods of the Oxford party. By
including 43 of the old Paraphrases, some 40 alternate
Psalm versions and 50 of the hymns of Horatius Bonar, he
even imparted something of a Presbyterian flavor to the
Hymnody. But he did not hesitate to use Anglican hymns
or tunes he regarded as suiting his purpose, and from his
"Acts and proceedings, 1856, pp. 166, 167, 169.
**W. Arnot, Life of James Hamilton, London, 1870, pp. 573, 574.
**Life, p. 570.
'^Acts and proceedings, 1866, pp. 143, 163.
''Life, pp. 195-197-
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 527
standpoint of an evangelical theology and a warm devotion
his collection was excellent. The proportion of its con-
tents still in active use is great, but the surpassing merit
of the book is in the tunes to which the hymns were set
by Dr. Rimbault. In its gatherings from English and
German sources, its originals and harmonizations. Psalms
and Hymns was a good second to Hymns ancient and
modern. Among the tunes it has contributed to common
worship are "Regent Square," "Lancashire," "Intercession,"
"Crucifier," "Rutherford," "Heathlands," "Everton,"
"Bentley," Smart's "London" and "St. Leonard," and
Dykes' "Faith" ; to say nothing of its arrangements and
harmonizations. Its wide influence upon its successors in
the choice and settings of hymns has been little under-
stood; partly perhaps because in the succeeding hymnal
of its own Church, it was not acknowledged as the source
even of the tunes with which it had enriched all Churches.
In 1876 The Presbyterian Church in England united
with congregations of the United Presbyterian Church of
Scotland to form "The Presbyterian Church of England."
The United Presbyterian section kept on using the then
recent The Presbyterian Hymnal of their mother Church,
while Psalms and Hymns kept its place in the English sec-
tion, and was also widely used in Presbyterian churches
through the British colonies.^^ In the interests of uni-
formity, rather than from any pressing need, the Synod
of 1 88 1 appointed a committee to prepare a new church
hymnal, with the Rev. W. Rigby Murray of Manchester in
the chair which the late Dr. Hamilton had filled so well.
The new book appeared, apart from the Psalms, as
Church Praise: zvith tunes (London: Nisbet, 1882). The
number of hymns is substantially unchanged, but they are
better arranged, and much new material is introduced to
replace hymns that had gone out of vogue. A large selec-
tion of hymns for the young is a new feature, and these
with some Gospel Hymns modify the musical standard;
^''W. Rigby Murray in Julian's Dictionary, p. 908.
528 THE ENGLISH HYMN
which otherwise is well maintained, and more distinctively
Anglican; the number of times from Hymns ancient and
modern being 55 as against 5 in Psalms and Hymns. An
appendix of ancient hymns and canticles, sanctuses and
anthems, also testifies to Anglican influences. In 1870 the
Church had at last withdrawn its former rulings against
instrumental music, and took henceforth a somewhat lead-
ing place in cultivating Congregational Song. The Bible
Psalter: being the AuthoriBed Version of the Psalms pointed
for chanting, by Sir Herbert Oakeley (London: Nisbet,
n. d.) suggests surely the natural way of restoring the
Psalter to its place of honor in Presbyterian worship. It
seems regrettable that the situation should have been com-
plicated by issuing The Revised Psalter (1886) as an at-
tempt to adapt the Revised Version to chanting. In a
XXth century revision of Church Praise (London: Nisbet,
1907) some selected metrical psalms were appended; indi-
cating not so much a reversion to that form of praise as
its disuse to a degree making it hardly worth while to
carry a separate Psalter to church.
3. Catholic Apostolic Hymnody (1864)
Dr. Hamilton was the successor of Edward Irving at
Regent Square. Otherwise the connection of the Church
formed by Irving's followers with Presbyterianism seems
slight. The Catholic Apostolic Church drew its liturgical
ideals from the same fountains as the Oxford Reformers,
and its elaborate ritual reproduces more closely than theirs
the liturgy of the Latin Church. Of this hymns were re-
garded perhaps rather in the light of an appendage than as
a constituent part. But in 1864 the Church was provided
with an authorized collection. Hymns for the use of the
churches (London: Strangeways and Walden), containing
205 hymns, enlarged to 320 in 1871. The hymns are
largely Anglican and Roman, with some from the German,
and a few of Dr. Bonar's. Of its original contributors, the
compiler, Mr. E. W. Eddis, alone allows his name to be
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 529
known. His version from the Greek, "O brightness of the
Immortal Father's face" has found a place in numerous
collections, and others by him are of decided merit.^^ In
the Catholic Apostolic liturgy the Liturgical Movement may
perhaps be regarded as reaching its fullest development,
but in respect of Hymnody the honors remain with the
Anglican Altar Hymnal as most definitely embodying the
conception of a Liturgical Hymn Book,
4. SWEDENBORGIAN HyMNODY (179O-1880)
The New Church had no authorized hymn book till the
appearance of Hymns for the use of the New Church
signified by the Neiv Jerusalem in the Revelation. Com-
piled by order of the General Conference. London: T.
Goyder and H. C. Hodson, 1824. It was intended as a
hand book of the new faith, and was largely conditioned by
the didactic motive. Natural prominence was given to
hymns of New Church writers; of whom Joseph Proud had
published Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of the
Lord's Nezv Church (London, 1790) ; Manoah Sibly his
Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1802 ; and F. M. Hodson his
Original Hymns in 18 19. The 600 hymns were chosen or
altered to put the emphasis on the doctrine that Christ is
the only object of faith and worship.
The Church was liturgical, in the sense of favoring
formal as against free worship, and the Hymns came to be
bound up with TJie Morning and Evening Services as con-
tained in the "Liturgy" ; but the liturgy was largely inde-
pendent of the Book of Common Prayer.
A not very successful effort to introduce versions of
Latin and German hymns occasioned the Supplement of
Hymns for the New Church. Compiled by order of the
General Conference. London: James Speirs, 1812. And
in 1880 this gave way to a new hymn book, with the same
"For the music at the Gordon Square Church, see J. Spencer Cur-
wen, Studies in Worship Music, ist series, 3rd ed., n. d., p. 397.
530 THE ENGLISH HYMN
title as that of 1824 (London: James Speirs), not greatly
differing in type or method; but availing itself "of such
outbirths of Sacred Song as the New Age, the Second
Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, has produced in the
English language." The book is interesting and worthy,
and less Anglican in manner than many of its contempo-
raries. Of later New Church writers represented, William
Mason, who published Hymns of Spiritual Experience in
1840, is most conspicuous; and over all is the trail of the
editorial blue pencil, altering alike the hymns whether of
the old Church or the New.
Ill
OXFORD INFLUENCES IN SCOTLAND AND
IRELAND: PRESBYTERIAN HYMN SINGING
When we recall that in 1839 John Keble introduced his
metrical version of the Psalms with the remark that psalm
singing had prevailed so long and so universally in the
Church of England "that there is small hope at present of
changing it," ^^ it is not surprising that Scotland proved
tenacious of a practice based on conscientious scruples as
well as upon national tradition.
I. The Changes in United Presbyterian Hymnody
(1848-1877)
The United Presbyterian Church was made up of the
elements most favorable to hymn singing. We have noted
the adoption of a little selection of Sacred Songs and
Hymns by the Synod of Relief as early as 1794. It was
forty-six years later when another member of the Scottish
secession, the United Secession Church, began to consider
a selection of paraphrases and hymns for its congregations,
and had actually printed it^^ when negotiations began for
"Keble's preface, p. viii.
''^See C. G. McCrie, The Public Worship of Presbyterian Scotland,
Edinburgh, 1892, p. 333.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 531
union with the Rehef Synod. Within five days of that
union's consummation the United Presbyterian Church ap-
pointed a committee on Psalmody, who recommended that
a book of hymns be prepared, published a draft in 1848,
and in 1851 another which was authorized and published
as Hymn Book of the United Presbyterian Church (Edin-
burgh: Oliphant, 185 1). So little was the Church then
moved by liturgical considerations that the 460 hymns
were arranged in the order of the Scripture passages on
which they were based.
The book as a whole was not popular, and was super-
seded by The Presbyterian Hymnal with accompanying
tunes (Edinburgh, 1877) which had been authorized in
1876. In this the Anglican influences were most marked.
The book opens with Heber's "Holy ! holy ! holy !" and in the
list of acknowledgments the first is to Mrs. Alexander, the
second to the editor of Hymns ancient and modern. The
hymns are reduced to 366, making its homiletical employ-
ment impracticable; the prose Te Deum and Gloria in Ex-
celsis, with Scripture passages pointed for chanting, are
included; full use is made of Neale's and other versions
from the Greek and Latin ; Dr. Hamilton Macgill furnishes
additional versions, and Dr. Wm. B. Robertson a new
translation of Dies Irae; and Dr. Henry Smart is put in
charge of the music. So great is the change of atmosphere
that one would assume that the hymn books of 1851 and
1877 were representative of different denominations.
2. The Hymnody of the Kirk Falls into the Hands
OF the Liturgical Party (1845-1885)
In the Established Church nothing had been done since
the sufferance of Translations and Paraphrases. But there
was always unrest, and one of the periodic movements "to
enlarge the Psalmody" began in the General Assembly
with the appointment of a committee on Psalmody in 1845,
one on Paraphrases in 1847, ^"^ ^^ overture referred to
them jointly in 1852 concerning "an authorized collection
532 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of sacred hymns." Their Hymns connected with passages of
Sacred Scripture, collected by a committee of the General
Assembly, and prepared for presentation on Friday, May
26, 18^4, and a succeeding committee's Hymns connected
with passages of Sacred Scripture, and adapted for public
zvorship. Selected by a committee of the General Assembly
of the Church of Scotland from a collection made by a
former committee. May 18^^, were small (the latter con-
taining only 25) and ineffective. Then in i860 another
committee presented a collection of 85 hymns, printed as
Hymns collected by the committee of the General Assembly
on Psalmody for presentation in May i860: David Arnot,
D.D., convener (Edinburgh: Paton and Ritchie, i860).
Revised and enlarged to 97 numbers by still another com-
mittee, this became Hymns for public worship collected by
tlie committee of the General Assembly on Psalmody. For
presentation in May 1861. David Arnot, D.D., convener.
In expressly allowing this selection to be printed, the
Assembly may be held as now authorizing for the first
time (1861) the use of hymns in the Church of Scotland,
but from the selection itself it withheld its sanction,^*^ and
the book was adopted in very few congregations.^^ It was
subjected to a revision and republished in 1864, but even
so with no more authority from the Assembly than is im-
plied in permission to publish it. Poor as it was in selection
and arrangement, and garbled as were its texts, it was
quite largely adopted by congregations who wished to sing
hymns, and had to accept what was offered.^^
The importance of the movement brought to this stage
of forwardness does not lie in the hymn book which em-
bodies it, but in what that hymn book represents, — the
authorized singing of hymns in the worship of the Church
of Scotland. The hymn book survived but a few years,
but the new status of the Hymn proved permanent. The
''"McCrie, p. ZZ^.
"Cf. A. K. H. Boyd in Blackwood's Magazine, May, 1889, p. 660.
**Dr. Sprott in McCrie, p. 332, note 38.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 533
moving causes behind this change are not readily got at.
The movement was not Hturgical. Dr. Lee, the leader in
liturgical "innovations," and who actually violated all Scot-
tish precedent by introducing a harmonium into Greyfriars,
fought and virtually won the battle for instrumental music,
but was indifferent to metrical hymns. He thought the
hymns of Scripture in prose furnished adequate materials
for praise, and that the really excellent modern hymns did
not number a score.^^ To some extent the old desire for
evangelical songs may have been behind the movement,
though the psalm singers denied it, and claimed it to be
brought about to gratify the taste of "individuals and small
parties," "chiefly enthusiastic lovers of music." ^^ And no
doubt the Romantic Movement and the improved standard
of taste it disseminated is partly responsible for the dis-
taste of a new generation for the old Psalmody and its
preference for hymns; though Sir Walter himself was a
confessed admirer of "Rous' Version."
It is to be understood that the movement was to enlarge
the Psalmody and not to discard it, and that the h3min book
proposed was a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the
old psalm book. Even so, to those who cherished their
recollections of the severe simplicities and spiritual fervor
of the earlier Psalmody, it seemed to threaten the spirituality
of Scottish worship and aroused resentment and opposition.
Thus the movement toward hymns encountered bitter
enemies, and had also some cold friends among the com-
mittee-men charged with its interests. The lack of system
and of quality, the incessant tinkering of texts, in the col-
lections laid before the Assembly by successive committees
is perhaps explained by a ruling idea on their part of com-
piling a group of paraphrases and hymns to take the place
of the XVIIIth century Translations and Paraphrases
^Robert Lee, The Reform of The Church of Scotland, Edinburgli,
1864, chap. X, "Psalms and Hymns."
°"Jas. Gibson, The public worship of God: Hymns and hymn books,
London, 1869, p. 97.
534 THE ENGLISH HYMN
rather than to prepare what we call a hymnal. Otherwise
the contrast betwen the Scottish Hymns for public worship
of 1861 and the English Hymns ancient and modern of the
same year would be difficult to account for.
In the meantime a considerable number of the Scottish
clergy had come under the influences of the Oxford Revival.
A group of them banded themselves together in 1865 as
"The Church Service Society," ^^ to study the liturgies
ancient and modern, and to prepare forms of worship;^-
and into the hands of these men the interests of the Hym-
nody of the Church of Scotland fell at once, and, in spite
of much misunderstanding and criticism, remained there
with very remarkable results.
The first step toward a better Hymnody was an overture
to the Assembly of 1866 which Dr. A. K. H. Boyd put
through his Presbytery of St. Andrews, asking for a new
committee to prepare a new hymnal "on principles exactly
contradictory of those on which its little predecessor had
been put together," viz. : that only hymns already accepted
by Christian people for their excellence be admitted, and
that they be printed (when possible) just as their authors
wrote them."^ The overture was approved by an over-
whelming majority of the Assembly, and the committee
appointed, but with the convener of the old committee still
in the chair of the new. After he had refused during a
year to call the committee together. Dr. Boyd was appointed
in his stead, and the work went forward with a dominant
purpose that had to yield something to conflicting views in
a very large committee.®^ After presenting drafts in 1868,
"'There is a good account of this society in McCrie, pp. 341-349.
"'See its 'Euchologion: or Book of Prayers; being forms of worship
issued by The Church Service Society; ist ed., Edinburgh, 1867; 7th
ed., 1896.
" "A. K. H. B." in Blackwood for May 1889 ; "The new Hymnology
of the Scottish Kirk." This vivid article best preserves the acri-
monious atmosphere in which the liturgical party wrought a great
change in the Church of Scotland, and gives full particulars of the
compilation of The Scottish Hymnal.
^ "A. K. H. B." ut supra.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 535
1869 and 1870, they were authorized to revise and publish
the later one. It appeared in September, 1870, as The
Scottish Hymnal: Hymns for public worship selected by a
committee of the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland. Published for use in churches by authority of
the General Assembly (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1870);
and in 1872 with tunes, under the editorship of W. H.
Monk who incorporated many of his arrangements and
copyright tunes from Hymns ancient and modern. Its 200
hymns were mainly the selection of Dr. Rankin of Muthill,
who also devised the title, as felicitous for the hymnal of
a national church as that of Hymns ancient and modern was
for a partisan hymnal. Of the two books The Scottish
Hymnal was the better both in its literary standard and the
purity of its texts; freed as it was from the necessity of
providing liturgical verse accorhmodated to numerous saints'
days and like occasions. Including as it did the most ap-
pealing of the hymns of the new Literary and Liturgical
schools, it is indeed difficult to see how its selection could
have been much bettered within its limits.
The Scottish Hymnal settled the character and type of the
Hymnody of the Church of Scotland. Some years' use of
it disclosed the need of enlargement, and an Appendix of
1884 prepared by the same committee, increased the number
of hymns to 358, with a supplement of 86 Children's
Hymns. With the new hymns incorporated in their proper
places, and the whole provided with tunes under the editor-
ship of Albert Lister Peace of Glasgow Cathedral, The
Scottish Hymnal took its final form in 1885. The face of
the new Scottish Hymnody thus presented is undoubtedly
a glowing one. To some it suggested no more than a light
reflected from an alien movement in another denomination
and another country than Scotland : to others it seemed to
spring from a new catholicity in the heart of Presbyterian-
ism itself, a recognition and a sharing of what was best in
the experiences of its fellow-Christians.
536 THE ENGLISH HYMN
3. The Free Church Remodels its Hymn Book (1882)
The Free Church, which went out at the Disruption of
1843, continued the use of metrical psalms without question
until 1866, when its Assembly, in response to several over-
tures, appointed a committee to inquire in what way the
Psalmody could be enlarged without disturbing the peace of
the Church.*^^ Nothing more was then contemplated than a
revision of the old Translations and Paraphrases, and the
addition of some hymns;*"' but with the developed conscien-
tiousness characterizing the Free Church, and in view of
the scruples of many against uninspired hymns, the com-,
mittee divided itself into three sections, to study the usage
of "The Reformed Church of Scoland," the primitive rule
and practice, and the doctrinal teaching of the old Para-
phrases. The committee reported in 1869 that they found
no Scripture principle, primitive use or Scottish law con-
flicting with the use of hymns, and in 1870 presented a
draft of selections from Translations and Paraphrases and
additional hymns. After some delay and revision this was
approved and allowed for public use in 1872, amid much
opposition and by a vote of 152 against 61.*''^ It appeared
in 1873 3iS Psalm-Versions, Paraphrases, and Hymns (Edin-
burgh, 1873), and was provided with tunes in The Scottish
Psalmody of the same year. Its 123 hymns included 40
of the old Paraphrases, and are more important as com-
mitting the Free Church to hymn singing than as a hymn
book.
An inevitable movement to enlarge the Hymnody began
almost at once, and resulted in The Free Church Hymn Book
with tunes. Published by authority of the General Assem-
bly of the Free Church of Scotland (Paisley 1882), a
collection of 387 hymns and 30 Scriptural anthems, set to
music under the editorship of the eminent Anglican musi-
cian, Edward J. Hopkins. In size and motive and manner
^'^Proceedings and debates, Free Church, 1866, pp. 247, 268.
'"See Report of Committee in The Evangelical Witness, Octo. I, 1869.
"Proceedings and debates, Free Church, 1872, p. 327.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 537
it is of the same type as The Scottish Hymnal, but suffers
in the comparison in lacking the distinguished format of
that book, and by an arrangement of its hymns by their
metres and not their subjects. It has more Scottish hymns,
incUiding 20 of the Paraphrases, and a larger representation
of recent authors outside the Anglican school. It is re-
markable that a Church that only a few years earlier was
debating the lawfulness of hymn singing should be thus
provided with so excellent a hymnal of the latest fashion: a
result largely due to the broadmindedness and culture of
Alexander B. Bruce, convener of the committee compiling
it, and to the hymnological knowledge of James Bonar of
Greenock.®^ The committee proceeded to set music to the
metrical Psalter, the Paraphrases and some of the prose
Psalms under Dr. Hopkins' supervision, as TJic Scottish
Psalter (1883); and to issue a hymnal for the young of
striking beauty and merit, under the musical editorship of
Sir Joseph Barnby, as The Home and School Hymnal
(Edinburgh: University Press, 1893). The Free Church
provision for Praise became thus very complete.
4. Scottish Hymn Writing
Of the hymn writers put forward or represented in these
hymn books, the ministry of the United Presbyterian Church
furnished three : George Jacque and William Bruce con-
tributed to The Presbyterian Hymnal of 1876 hymns still
in use, and Hamilton M. Macgill was the first Scottish
minister to bring the hymns of the Latin Church before
the Presbyterian Churches.
Of the Church of Scotland, Robert Murray McCheyne's
"When this passing world is done," William Robertson's
"A little child the Saviour came," Principal Shairp's "Twixt
gleams of joy and clouds of doubt," and Norman Mac-
leod's "Courage, brother! do not stumble," are all in use
beyond the bounds of Scotland. John R. Macduff's once
'*His valuable indexes and annotations are in the larger edition
without music.
538 THE ENGLISH HYMN
popular The Gates of Praise (1875) is now remembered by
"Christ is coming! let creation." And George Matheson
wrote, among others, one of the most popular of modern
hymns, in "O Love that wilt not let me go," so happily
wedded to music in The Scottish Hymnal.
The Free Church numbered among its ministers the most
eminent Scottish hymn writer, Horatius Bonar, a pastor at
Kelso, later at Edinburgh, for a while regarded as the
peer of Watts and Charles Wesley. Of his ten tracts or
volumes of hymns ( 1843-1881 ) seven were published before
his Church authorized hymn singing, and his hymns were
sung in almost every communion but his own. Spontaneous,
careless, and sometimes ringing the changes fatiguingly,
they are warmly evangelical, often poetical, and always
sympathetic. God's love in Christ, the rest of faith and
beauty of holiness, the helpfulness of sacraments, the hope
of the Second Coming irradiating the pathos of life, were
Dr. Bonar's special themes. And vv^hile he may not have
created a new type of English hymn, he had a distinctive
style, a childlike simplicity and straightforwardness, a
cheerful note with a plaintive undertone; and he impressed
his striking personality upon the English Hymn. The
appeal of his hymns to his own generation was so wide-
spread and pronounced as almost to create a cult. Fully a
hundred of his hymns have been in actual church use, many
of which are gradually passing out of sight. Eighteen are
in the Scottish The Church Hymnary of 1898, and of these
such hymns as "I heard the voice of Jesus say," "Thy way,
not mine, O Lord," "A few more years shall roll," "When
the weary, seeking rest," and "Here, O my Lord, I see
Thee face to face," are both characteristic and enduring.*^^
After Bonar, James Drummond Burns, who had a charge
in the Presbyterian Church of England, is the best known
Free Church hymn writer, and his "Hushed was the even-
ing hymn" and "Still with Thee, O my God" are in wide
'"For a sufficient presentation of the hymns, see Hymns by Horatius
Bonar, Henry Frowde, 1904.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 539
use. Dr. Bonar has a place among students and translators
of Latin hymns, and the sisters, Mrs. Sarah Findlater and
Jane L. Borthwick, by their Hymns from the Land of
Luther. By H. L. L. (1854-1862) won a high place in
the useful band of translators from the German. Miss
Borthwick ha? also three original hymns in The Church
Hymnary (1898). Mrs. Anne Ross Cousins' Immanuel's
Land (1876) contributes "The sands of time are sinking,"
"O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy Head," and "To Thee
and to Thy Christ, O God."
5. Unauthorized Hymn Singing by Irish Presby-
terians (1830-1894)
During all these years of change in Scotland the Irish
Presbyterian Church had never authorized the use of hymns
in worship, or of anything beyond "Rous' version." The
subject was often debated with Irish warmth in Presby-
teries and Assembly. In 1880 the Assembly published A
revised edition of the Scottish Metrical Version of the
Psalms, and so far submitted to the prevailing influences
as to call upon a Dublin adherent of the Anglican school,
Sir R. P. Stewart, to edit its music, adding some new Psalm
versions in metres adapted to tunes from Hymns ancient
and modern and kindred sources.
It seems, however, to have been admitted even by the
advocates of exclusive Psalmody that "congregations can
use any hymns they please . . . without being called to
account," '''^ though "without sanction." Advantage was
taken of this liberty in some congregations at an early date.
A collection of 220 Hymns adapted to public worship:
intended as a supplement to the Psalmody of the Church of
Scotland ("as used by most of the Presbyterian congrega-
tions in Ulster") appeared at Dublin in 1830. Into other
congregations hymns came more insidiously by way of the
Sunday school. "The toleration of hymns in the Sabbath
'"Professor Dick, The Hymnary Discussions in the General Assembly,
Belfast, 1899, p. 14.
540 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Schools," says Professor Dick, "has greatly promoted the
movement for corrupting Divine worship." ''^ But during
the last quarter of the century "a tremendous change" came
over the opinions of the great body of Irish Presbyterians,'^^
and their demand for an authorized Hymnody became
somewhat urgent. The contents of W. Fleming Steven-
son's Hymns for Church and Home (London, 1873) serve
to show how much the Anglican Hymnody and the im-
pulse it gave to hymn singing were behind this change. It
showed too that Irish Presbyterians had at hand an excel-
lent hymnologist and capable editor. Even more Anglican,
and more choice also, was Book of Common Song: being
a supplement to the Psalter in the worship of the Church
(Marcus Ward, 1890) edited by Rev. Andrew Charles
Murphy of Belfast on the theory "that there are not more
than three hundred hymns of adequate merit in the lan-
guage." ''^ But the General Assembly neither gave its sanc-
tion to Hymnody nor undertook the preparation of a hymnal
until 1895, when it appointed a committee to select mate-
rials; a project which was merged in a larger one for a
common Presbyterian Hymnal.
6. The Movement for a Common Hymnal Yields
TO Oxford Influences (1870-1898)
Each of the Churches had dealt with the problem of
hymn singing as it arose and in a different way, and a
separate hymn book for each denomination had been a
practical necessity. But there was in reality no denomina-
tional Hymnody, and except in a certain approach of The
Scottish Hymnal to the doctrine as well as the method and
manner of the Oxford Hymnody, no marked difference
between the books. There seemed no necessity that the
unfortunate divisions of Presbyterianism should be em-
''^The Hymnary Discussions, p. 22.
'''Ibid., p. 19.
"Unlike many who hold this theory, Dr. Murphy included only one
hymn of his own composition.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 541
bodied in books of praise, and a desire arose for a hymn
book which all branches of Presbyterianism might use in
common.
In this movement the United Presbyterian Church led the
way. When in 1870 its Synod began the preparation of
The Presbyterian Hymnal, it resolved to approach the other
Churches with a view to common action. But the Estab-
lished Church was well advanced in the preparation of The
Scottish Hymnal, and the Free could not then see its way
beyond a very small selection of hymns as its first step.'''^
Resolving to revise its hymnal in 1891, the United Presby-
terian Church again approached the others, and this time
successfully. A joint committee of the three Churches was
appointed, and proceeded to the point of printing a "Draft
Hymnal," revised and reissued in 1895 ^"^ again in 1896.'^^
At this point the Church of Scotland, at the instigation
of what many regarded as the Ultra- Anglican party, ad-
ministered a shock by withdrawing (May, 1896) from
the whole project. Elsewhere interest in the project had
widened and crystallized into a definite proposal"^ of a
common hymnal for all the Presbyterian Churches of the
British Empire. In 1895 the Presbyterian Church in Ire-
land, and also the Presbyterian Church of Canada, which
had printed a draft hymnal of its own, sent representatives
to the Joint Hymnal Committee with a view of cooperation.
The draft of 1896 was adopted by the United and Free
Churches and that of Ireland, under some protest, inasmuch
as numerous hymns had been inserted to gratify the domi-
nant party in the Established Church, which some in the
other Churches regarded as "Romanizing." It was con-
tended that the situation was changed by the withdrawal
"John Brownlie, The Hymns and Hymn writers of The Church
Hymnary, Henry Frowde, n. d., p. 4.
''^Draft Hymnal prepared by Joint Committee of Church of Scot-
land, Free Church and United Presbyterian Church. Edinburgh:
printed for the committee, 1896 (598 Hymns).
"Agreed upon by the British delegates to the Council of the
Presbyterian Alliance at Toronto, 1892. Brownlie, p. 6.
542 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of the Church of Scotland, and that the book did not repre-
sent the consenting Churches.''^ But the body of Scottish
Churchmen were also dissatisfied with the situation, and
under pressure from the Presbyteries, and after some con-
cessions were made in the draft hymnal, ^^ it was also
adopted by the Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1897.
The new hymnal, one of the comeliest ever made, ap-
peared as The Church Hymnary, authorized for use in
public worsliip by The Church of Scotland, The Free Church
of Scotland, The United Presbyterian Church, The Pres-
byterian Church of Ireland. TJie music edited by Sir John
Stainer (Henry Frowde, 1898). Of its 625 hymns, 172
had been in the books of all three Scottish Churches, 128
in two, 119 in TJie Scottish Hymnal alone, 33 in The Free
Church Hymn Book alone, 46 in The Presbyterian Hymnal
alone, and 127 were, in none of them.'^^ The influences that
were behind The Scottish Hymnal thus predominated in
making the new Hymnary, affecting the Hymnody of all
the Churches. At the same time all hymns were included
which in the judgment of all the representatives of any
one denomination had become standards in that Church.^"
The music of the book followed frankly the ideals of Monk
in Hymns ancient and modern. The Church Flymnary in
its choice of hymns, its texts, and its music,^^ to which its
form and typography must be added, is of a very high
order, and must always remain a distinguished representa-
tive of modern Church Praise. But apart from the Oxford
"C/. G. T. Niven, "The Remnant of the Joint-Hymnal Committee"
in United Presbyterian Magazine, August 1896.
'"For outside views of the situation, see United Pres. Magazine,
Nov. 1896, and January 1897; and The Presbyterian and Reformed
Revieiv, Octo. 1896 (Scottish correspondence).
'"Brownlie, p. 7, note.
^''The first chapter of Brownlie's book is the best account of the
making of The Church Hymnary, and the fourteenth is a full sketch
of its musical editing.
*'Its tunes are studied historically in Wm. Cowan and Jas. Love,
The Music of The Church Hymnary and The Psalter in metre, its
sources and coviposers, Henry Frowde, 1901.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 543
Revival it could not have been made, and if so could not
have been accepted by Scottish and Irish Presbyterianism.
So far as the Presbyterian Church of England and the
Presbyterian Church in Canada are concerned, the move-
ment for unity failed. The former is dealt with elsewhere.
The Hymnal of the latter, adopted in 1880, was replaced
by The Presbyterian Book of Praise: approved and com-
mended by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in Canada, with tunes. Part i, Selections from the
Psalter; Part ii. The Hymnal, revised and enlarged. Ox-
ford: printed at the University Press, iSq'/. This book
also is greatly enriched by the Anglican Hymnody and
church music, but is more eclectic than the Scottish book.
It shows more affiliation with the less severe standards
prevalent in the United States and was under the necessity
of providing for a great home mission work. It had the
felicity of bringing forward a hymn writer of Canadian
Presbyterianism, Dr. Robert Murray of Halifax; whose
Home Mission Hymn, "From ocean unto ocean," has al-
ready proved its usefulness.
OXFORD INFLUENCES ON AMERICAN
HYMNODY
We have now to consider the effects of the Oxford
Movement on the Hymnody of the American Churches.
I. The Appeal of the Latin Hymn (1840-1861)
An interest in Latin hymns was awakened here almost as
soon as in England, In 1840 Dr. Henry Mills of Auburn
published The Hymn of Hildebert and the Ode of Xavier,
with English versions. Bishop Williams followed in 1845
with Ancient Hymns of Holy Church, and Dr. Coles in 1847
with his versions of Dies Irac. The body of the Breviary
and Missal Hymns were made accessible to the American
544 THE ENGLISH HYMN
public in Lyra Catholica (New York: Dunigan, 1851), and
again in the Boston Hymns of the Ages ( 1858) which F. D.
Huntington introduced. How the Unitarians led in the
introduction of these versions into their hymn books we
have already seen.^^ Among Congregationalists, Henry
Ward Beecher used Lyra Catholica as one of the sources
of his Plymouth Collection of 1855, and the Andover
faculty secured further versions of Latin hymns from Dr.
Ray Palmer for their Sabbath Hymn Book of 1858. Among
Presbyterians Dr. Willis Lord had included numerous ver-
sions in his Hymns of Worship (Philadelphia, 1858), one
of many protests against the authorized Hymnody of his
Church. W. C. Dana of Charleston, in his A Collection of
Hymns (New York, 1859), referred to the ancient hymns
therein represented as more attractive to some minds than
the modern. And in 1861 Dr. Henry A. Boardman made a
special point of including versions of Greek and Latin
hymns in his Selection of Hymns designed as a Supple-
ment to the Psalms and Hymns of the Presbyterian Church
(Philadelphia). These books were not official, but the per-
sonality of their editors being what it was, we may say
that the status of the Latin hymn was thus early secured in
the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches just as effec-
tively and far more peaceably than it had been in the
Church of England.
2. Hymns Ancient and Modern in the Protestant
Episcopal Church (1859-1892)
The influence of the Oxford Movement in its wider sense
was naturally first felt here by the Episcopal Church. Some
preparation for it had been laid by the high church party
under Bishop Hobart. In 1834 George W. Doane edited
the first American reprint of Keble's Christian Year; and the
amusingly elementary character of his notes implies that he
regarded the main area of Episcopalian territory as virgin
*^See chap, ix, part iv, I.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 545
ground to be cleared for the Oxford plow. He and Croswell
and Coxe in their hymns and poems carried forward Keble's
work on his own lines. Historical, doctrinal, devotional,
polemical, writers completed the preparation. And in a few
years the Oxford influence set in like a strong tide that
carried the Episcopal Church from its former moorings
to the position it occupies today.
These changes became most visible in that Church's wor-
ship;— in the conversion of the table into an altar at the
east end of a gothic choir, in the change of gown into
surplice with what it typified, and generally in the multipli-
cation of services and their reorganization with more com-
plicated ritual.
Such changes even in their earlier stages clearly called
for a Hymnody more germane to the new ideals than the
Hymns of 1827, and the Select metrical Psalms of 1832.
But owing to the conflict of parties no authorized hymnal
was practicable, and presumably private hymnals such as
the Oxford Movement multiplied in England, would not
have been allowed for use in church services in any diocese.
From 1832 to 1858 the hymnal activity was confined to the
"Selections" of the Evangelicals designed for the prayer-
meeting and "lecture room." In 1859 appeared the only
private hymnal of liturgical type, Sacred Hymns; chiefly
from ancient sources. Arranged according to the seasons
of the Church. By Frederick Wilson, Rector of S. James
the Less (Philadelphia: Burns and Sieg). Wilson had
come from an English parish, and his book consisted mainly
of translations from Chandler and others of the Oxford
group. Whether he was permitted to use it has not
appeared.
The Hymns for Church and Home, compiled by Bishop
Burgess, Dr. Muhlenberg, Dr. Coxe, Dr. Howe and Prof.
Wharton, in i860, seems to have been intended to call the
attention of Convention to the enlarged resources of Hym-
nody. It had 28 versions of Latin hymns, and 19 of
German, but the larger part was from the XVIIIth century
546 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Evangelical school. This book stimulated the already wide-
spread desire for an improved Hymnody. Some relief v^as
afiforded by the appearance of Hymns ancient and modern,
which was welcomed by high churchmen, reprinted^^ and
licensed for use in several dioceses ; and, more generally, by
65 "additional" hymns Hcensed by the House of Bishops in
1865. It was only then that hymns now so familiar as
"Sun of my soul," "Abide with me" and "Jerusalem the
golden," were introduced to Episcopal churches. A closer
conformity to the spirit and letter of Hymns ancient and
modern characterized Dr. Batterson's Church Hymnal
(Philadelphia, 1869) ; and from the same source the tunes
as well as the hymns were freely drawn upon by two men
who were beginning their important work for congrega-
tional praise in the Episcopal Church ; — Charles L. Hutchins
in his The Church Hymnal (Buffalo, 1870) and J. Ireland
Tucker in his The Parish Hymnal (New York) of the same
year.
But the general desire was for uniformity, and in 1872
the General Convention issued Hymnal: according to the
use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United
States of America. Printed under the authority of the
General Convention. MDCCCLXXH.^'^ It may be re-
garded as a compromise between Metrical Psalmody, the
Liturgical and the Evangelical Hymnodies. Tate and
Brady's Nezv Version was the largest contributor, 60 of
their versions appearing as hymns. Watts, Wesley, Mont-
gomery, Neale, Doddridge, Steele, Newton, and Heber,
followed in the order named. There are 37 hymns from the
Latin ; and almost every type and school has some represen-
^^By C. T. Adams, Philada., 1866, with recommendation by Bishops
Williams, Atkinson, Potter and Quintard ; by Lippincott, Phila., with
the 1868 Appendix; by Pott and Amery, New York, with the Appendix
and L. C. Biggs's Supplement.
*^This was the "Standard." The Hymnal was first printed in 1871
(Lippincott) as part of a report to the General Convention. For an
annotated edition, «ee Chas. L. Hutchins, Annotations on the Hymnal,
Hartford, 1872.
THE OXFORD . REVIVAL 547
tation in this eclectic book, whose character was unchanged
in the revision of 1874. The adoption of this book was
reluctant in many advanced parishes that had been using
Hymns ancient and modern; but in spite of local conserva-
tisms it served the Church till the appearance of The
Hymnal revised and enlarged as adopted by the General
Convention of The Protestant Episcopal Church in the
United States of America in the year of our Lord i8p2:
being the preliminary report of the Committee on the
Hymnal appointed by the General Convention of 1886,
modified (Oxford: University Press).
The new Hymnal conforms more to the Hymns ancient
and modern pattern, and has no marked features of its own.
The selection of the hymns was somewhat suggested by
compromise between various parties and schools in the
Church, none of which it appeared to satisfy. The editing
of the book reflected no lustre on those concerned in it and
needless mutilations of the hymns gave offence to many.
Published without tunes The Hymnal has gained much dis-
tinction and exercised a very great influence on American
church music by the numerous musical settings given to it
by private enterprise. That of Dr. C. L. Hutchins (1894)
led in popularity; that of J. Ireland Tucker and William
W. Rousseau (1894) closely followed it. That of A. H.
Messiter (1893) embodied the boy-choir traditions of
Trinity, New York. That of James H. Darlington (1897)
sought simple congregational tunes. That of Dr. Horatio
Parker (1903) aimed to avoid the sentimental or part-song
type of tune which some of the earlier settings had much
fostered, and which he believed had hindered the improve-
ment of congregational singing. It is unquestionably true
that while these musical editions had gathered about the
hymns a great variety of the better types of church tunes,
they showed nevertheless too much tendency to cater to
the choir rather than the people, and failed to effect all the
improvement in congregational singing that seemed prac-
ticable. It is however to be remembered that the Episcopal
548 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Church has delayed behind all others in putting the music
into the pews.
The Reformed Episcopal Church separated from the
Protestant Episcopal in 1873 in protest against Tractarian-
ism, and organized on the basis of the "Proposed Book"
of 1785.^' It had at first (230) Hymns recommended [by
Bishop Cummins] for use in the Reformed Episcopal Church
(Philadelphia, 1874), selected from those in general use.
Its Hymnal Companion to tlie Prayer Book, with accom-
panying tunes (Philadelphia, 1885) was more like, the
Hymnal then used in the Episcopal Church than any other,
and its Communion Hymns were not any more colorless
doctrinally. This book served until extensively revised and
republished with the same title in 1907.
3. The Liturgical Controversy in the German
Reformed Church (1857)
Under the influence of American surroundings, notably of
revivalism, the German Reformed Church had quite de-
parted from such liturgical constitution as it originally had,
when John W. Nevin caught unexpectedly from a casual
reading of a volume of the Oxford Tracts "his first glimpse
of what the church spirit really meant." ^^ He proceeded
forthwith to those studies which made him the founder of
a "Mercersburg school" of theology, and the leader of a
movement that began with the proposal to reinstate The old
Palatinate Liturgy, but soon changed into a proposed re-
construction of the Church on a "primitive" basis, and her
equipment with a liturgy that should be "in the fullest sense
of the word an altar service," ®7 "and not simply a pulpit
liturgy" ; "churchly, sacramental, and in proper measure
also priestly." ^^ As a result of this movement A Liturgy:
*'Chap. viii, sect, iv, i.
*°Theo. Appel, The Life and Work of John Williamson Nevin,
Philadelphia, 1889, p. 88.
"J. W. Nevin, The Liturgical Question, Philadelphia, 1862, p. 28.
''Ibid., p. 38.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 549
or order of Christian worship ( Philadelphia : Lindsay and
Blakiston, 1857) was tentatively allowed, in which the order
of worship revolves with the Christian Year around "the
mystical presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist," ^^ and
every office and act turns toward the altar.^^ Beside the
ancient hymns and canticles in situ, provision is made for
singing hymns "in the usual manner," and A Selection of
Hymns (104) for public and private worship is appended,
though remote indeed from both the scheme and sources of
the worship. There are but two hymns for the Lord's
Supper, none from the Hymnody of the Latin Church, and
no recognition of the church year. Watts and the Evan-
gelical school prevail.
The revision of this Liturgy, after some years' use, pub-
lished in 1867 as An order of worship for the Reformed
Church (Philadelphia), developed the full heat of a litur-
gical controversy, with the low church West allying itself
with the non-liturgical minority in the East, to resist ritual-
ism. If the denomination was to be saved at all, it could
only be by toleration; and the East was allowed the use of
the Order of worship, while the West was permitted to
make a low church one of its own. The Hymns for the
Reformed Church in the United States ( Philadelphia : Pub-
lication Board, 1874) was a Hymnal Companion to the
Order of Worship, often bound up with it. It is a very
choice liturgical hymn book, with hymns provided for the
Sundays and other days of the church year. By contrast
with it The Reformed Church Hymnal: with tunes (Cleve-
land, 1878), made to accompany the Western Order of
Service, suffers greatly. It is given over unduly to the
Mason and Kingsley school of music, and its miscellaneous
hymns are mutilated to fit the space left beneath the tunes.
The peace movement that began in 1878 effected a liturgical
compromise, as expressed in The Directory of worship of
1884. A church hymnal followed, by direction of Synod
^"Ibid., p. 23.
^Ibid., p. 24.
550 THE ENGLISH HYMN
in 1887 as The Hymnal of the Reformed Church in the
United States (Cleveland: Publishing House, 1890). The
book is liturgical in so far that the bulk of its 793 hymns
are grouped under the seasons of the church year; but
the hymns are of every sort, and much of the music is of the
Sunday school type represented by Bradbury. Those of
liturgical tastes had, however, the Hymns of 1874 as a
permanent possession.
4. The new Reformed Dutch Hymnody (1868-1891)
Modern influences were brought to play upon the Hym-
nody of the Reformed Dutch Church in a way quite peculiar.
The congregations were restive under Psalms and Hymns,
and were prevented by church law from adopting private
collections. At the Synod of 1868 no less than four manu-
script hymn books were laid on its table by as many clergy-
men who had compiled them and who requested their
authorization. Under this stimulus a "Committee on Hym-
nology" was appointed''^ who prepared Hymns of the
Church: with tunes (New York: Barnes, 1869) and the
smaller Hymns of Prayer and Praise (Barnes, 1871) for
devotional services. The committee. Dr. John B. Thomp-
son, A. G. Vermilye and A. R. Thompson, made a collection
in which the modern types of hymns were well represented
with selections of prose Psalms for chanting. The musical
editor, U. C. Burnap, made what would now be regarded
as a very moderate use of the Anglican church music, but it
was too far advanced for a very backward Church, and
suffered the ignominy of a revision, — "putting in Lowell
Mason where I had Dykes." ^^ A smaller book, compiled
by the chairman of the committee. Christian Praise (New
York: Huntington 1870), though not designed for use in
the Dutch Church, was authorized in 1879.
Mr. Edwin A. Bedell, an Albany organist, submitted to
"C/. Jno. B. Thompson, "Hymns of the Church" jn The Christian
Intelligencer for July 25, 1906.
'"Letter of U. C. Burnap to the present writer.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 551
the Synod a manuscript collection of hymns and tunes of
his own compilation. It was a preacher's hymn book of
some 1400 hymns, but after some 600 hymns had been
excised by a committee of Synod and some 200 added, it
was endorsed by the Synod of 1890, though left in the
hands of compiler and publisher to their private profit. It
appeared as The Church Hymnary, a collection of Hymns
and tunes for public worship. Compiled by Edwin A.
Bedell (New York: Merrill, 1891). The book was thor-
oughly modern, including for example 35 hymns of John
Mason Neale, 49 tunes by Dykes and 40 by Barnby, and
it won a wide acceptance in and beyond the bounds of the
Dutch Church. Its very size and scope appealed still to
preachers ; its wealth of new music to both choir and people ;
it was a skilfully made collection in spite of its overcrowded
page; and it had at first no competitor on a similar scale
and of equal quality. However undesirable the Synodical
endorsement of a private commercial enterprise may have
been, the Church had thus a more modern book than it could
possibly have made, and the book gained a circulation and
influence outside from which an official publication and
imprint would have barred it.
5. Hymns Ancient and Modern in the Presbyterian
Church (1866- 1895)
In the authorized Hymnody of the Presbyterian Church
modern influences became manifest in the ill-fated (Old
School) Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church. Ordered by
the General Assembly (Philadelphia: Board of Publication,
1866). It is a hymn book as against Psalms and Hymns.
Prose Psalms are set to chants, and the creed and Lord's
Prayer are given for recitation. Its 576 hymns were a
great contrast to the 1290 of the Andover book, too great
for the ministry to welcome then, and the Assembly ordered
a supplement. It ordered also an index of texts, but the
book could not be used homiletically with good effect. The
very arrangement of the hymns in 5 groups, General Praise,
552 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Church Seasons, Christian Life, Occasional and Miscel-
laneous, implies a different intention. The use of the new
liturgical Hymnody in this book is very small, but there are
a very few hymns from the Latin. This was the first of
the authorized Presbyterian hymnals to introduce the tunes.
But the musical setting was unsatisfactory to a degree that
prevented the literary contents from receiving any fair test
in actual use.
After the Reunion in 1870 the Assembly appointed a
committee who prepared The Presbyterian Hymnal. Phila-
delphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication [1874]. It
bore many marks of haste, and is largely the work of Dr.
J. T. Duryea, to whom resort was had by a committee un-
able to agree as to what was wanted. The classification of
the hymns, opening with "The Call to Praise" and "The
Response," "The Call to Prayer" and "The Response," and
proceeding through the articles of the Apostles Creed to
"Hymns of Occasion," makes evident that the book was
planned as a manual of worship rather than of doctrine or
homiletics. Dr. Duryea made a use of the Latin hymns
hardly if at all less than that of the Episcopal Hymnal of
1872-74; even going so far as to use Caswall's version
(with omission of one verse) of the Breviary hymn to
"The Sacred Heart of Jesus." ^^ But the special medium
through which the Oxford influences affected that Hymnal
was Hymns ancient and modern, many copies of which had
been brought here by Presbyterian tourists abroad, and
which was familiar already in many cultivated homes.
From this book numerous hymns, both those from the
Latin and English, were extracted : among the latter, such
as "Abide with me," "Jerusalem the golden," "Brief Hfe is
here our portion," "The Church's one Foundation" and
"Saviour, again to Thy dear Name we raise." Hardly
inferior to these hymns in the influence they have exerted
on Presbyterian Hymnody were the then altogether novel
tunes of the Anglican school taken from Hymns ancient
''^Hymnal of 1874; no. 240.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 553
and modern, such as "Innocents," "St. Alban," "Horbury,"
"St. Fulbert," "Hursley," "St. Peter," "Hollingside," and
"Eventide." The older English tunes in the Hymnal of
1874 were in most cases the arrangements of them made
by Monk to suit the ecclesiastical tone of Hymns ancient and
modern. It may be said in brief that through the Hymnal
of 1874 Hymns ancient and modern greatly enriched and
considerably modified Presbyterian Hymnody, and that as
regards the hymn tunes its influence has been hardly short
of revolutionary.
The Hymnal was not without its rivals. One of the com-
mittee. Dr. James O. Murray, had joined with his elder,
Winthrop S. Gilman, in compiling The Sacrifice of Praise
(New York: Scribner, 1869: revised ed. 1870: musical
ed., 1872), a collection of 616 hymns marked by culture and
charm. It was made for the Brick Church of New York,
but deservedly won favor in other congregations. Dr.
Edwin F. Hatfield retired from the committee to prepare
The Church Hymn Book, with tunes (New York: Ivison,
1872) ; and Drs. R. D. Hitchcock, Zachary Eddy and Philip
Schafif entered the lists with Hymns and Songs of Praise
(New York: Randolph, 1874). These were huge collec-
tions of 1416 and 1464 Hymns respectively, made possible
only by grouping from two to four under each tune. In
making so elaborate an appeal to the homiletical instinct
both books looked backward, and were soon left behind in
spite of a pamphlet war conducted in their interests. But
they were edited with a care and hymnological knowledge
not displayed in The Hymnal; and Drs. Hatfield and Schaff
were the earliest hymnologists, in any real sense, of the
Presbyterian Church.^^
Dr. Robinson, who had made hymn books for so many
"^Hatfield's The Poets of the Church (New York, 1884) showed
real research. Schaff's German hymn books, his papers on Latin
Hymns (see Literature and Poetry, N. Y., 1890), his Christ in Song
(New York, 1870) and A Library of Religious Poetry (with A. Gilman,
New York, 1881), are all highly esteemed.
554 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of the churches, naturally expected to edit that for the
reunited Church. Failing to come to agreement with the
Hymnal Committee, he published his own Psalms and
Hymns and Spiritual Songs (New York, 1875) already
noticed, with its appeal both to psalm singers and the lovers
of the new Hymnody. This he followed in 1878 by A
Selection of Spiritual Songs with music for the church and
the choir (New York) in which he compromised between
"two diverging drifts of sentiment," ^^ the old love for
melody and refrain and a newer taste for the Anglican and
German choral type. His later books, Laudes Domini
(1885) and The new Laudes Domini (1892) are much
more pronouncedly under the influence of the Anglican
school of Hymnody and church music, and did much to
extend the popularity of both in Presbyterian and Congre-
gational churches.
The Hymnal of 1874 had survived its earlier rivals, and
reached a circulation of half a million copies.''^ But it was
originally a carelessly made and inadequate collection, al-
though the best the Church had made and authorized. It
was allowed to linger much too long, until its continued
use became a strain on denominational loyalty and a detri-
ment to Congregational Song. Every pastor was being
pressed by agents of hymn book publishers, and the number
of churches which turned from the Assembly's authoriza-
tion to the market to find their praise books was increasing
with every year.
To regain the position thus sacrificed was impossible. To
regain at least something of it, the only course left open
was to prepare an authorized hymnal that might make its
way by the force mainly of its superiority to those in the
market, coupled with whatever sanction still remained in
the recommendation of the Assembly.
In this task the Board of Publication took the initiative
under authority to revise the church hymnal committed to
"''Preface.
°'Ms. records of Board of Publication.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 555
it in 1888;^^ and in 1893 sought and obtained the approval
of the Assembly for the work of preparation already
begun.^* The whole field of Hymnody was freshly studied
with the resources of the new Hymnology; the hymns were
chosen in the interests of devotion as distinguished from
homiletics, and their text was determined with a scrupu-
lousness that had been more common in literature than in
Hymnody. In setting the hymns a large use was made of
the Anglican music, and of the American composers de-
veloped in connection with the musical editions of the
Protestant Episcopal Hymnal of 1892.
The new book appeared as The Hymnal published by
authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America. The Presby-
terian Board of Publication and Sabbath-school Work,
Philadelphia, i8p^. It sought to bring forward a backward
Church to the van of progressive Church Song, and to pre-
pare a church book unexcelled for utility, beauty and
editorial carefulness. It proved at once a menace to private
publishing interests. The publisher of Dr. Robinson's
series planned In Excelsis (New York, 1897) as an open
competitor on a lavish scale, with a close imitation in
method, arrangement, and outward form. But against all
commercial enterprise The Hymnal established a new stand-
ard of Church Praise and reestablished a measure of church
uniformity; having been adopted, up to the time of its
revision in 191 1, by 1880 congregations, with a circulation
of 322,000 copies. The denominational equipment for the
service of song was rounded out by the publication, under
the same editorial auspices, of The Chapel Hymnal (1898)
and The School Hymnal (1899).
The Presbyterian Church in the United States
(Southern) has responded more guardedly to modern in-
fluences. Its Psalms and Hymns, authorized in 1866, were
ameliorated by the allowance of Robinson's Psalms and
"Minutes of General Assembly, 1888, pp. 71, 72.
''^Minutes, 1893.
556 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, and, later, R. P. Kerr's Hymns
of the Ages (New York, 1891). Under pressure from
the Presbyteries the Assembly of 1898 authorized the prep-
aration of The new Psalms and Hymns published by
authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States, A. D. igoi. Richmond, Va.,
Presbyterian Committee of Publication. Prepared for a
body tenacious of old usages and strongly evangelical, the
new hymn book (Psalms and Hymns in name only) in-
cludes a large appropriation of the newer types of hymns
and tunes under a careful editorship, especially of the music.
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was less con-
scious of the Oxford influences. Its own Psalms and Hymns
of 1845 ^"d a collection prepared by A. J. Baird and
authorized in 1875,^^ were supplemented by the use of
revival hymn books; and in 1889 the Assembly adopted a
member of Dr. Robinson's "Spiritual Song Series" {Spirit-
ual Songs for Church and Choir), republishing it as The
Cumberland Presbyterian Hymnal (Nashville, n. d.).
Seventeen years later that body and the Presbyterian Church
in the United States of America became one.
But the Oxford influences on Presbyterian Hymnody did
not reach their maximum in the authorized Hymnody, but
in The Evangelical Hymnal of Charles Cuthbert Hall (New
York: Barnes, 1880). He found his motive in a critical
judgment of hymns, a pronounced churchliness, and a rever-
ence that was more an essence than a grace; and he found
his musical inspiration in Joseph Barnby's setting of the
advanced Anglican Hymnary. His close addiction to An-
glican models did not appeal to very many in his own de-
nomination. The Churchman^'^^ on the contrary regarded
it as "the richest collection for church worship within
reach," and as "far surpassing" the Episcopal Hymnal.
Dr. Leonard W. Bacon's The Church Book (New York:
"See B. W. McDonnold, History of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, 4th ed., Nashville, 1899, p. 597.
'""October 8, 1884.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 557
Appleton, 1883) is more independent. It reverts to the
"Psalms and Hymns" model : its hymns nevertheless being
chosen and arranged in the interests of worship as dis-
tinguished from homiletics. Dr. M. W. Stryker's Church
Song for the uses of the House of God (Biglow and Main),
1889) stands alone in its addiction to German chorals, and
with his other books reveals him as one of the most copious
Presbyterian hymn writers. Of others brought forward in
modern Presbyterian hymn books, the names of Aaron R.
Wolfe, Robinson P. Dunn, Hervey D. Ganse, and Mrs.
Prentiss, have attained a moderate recognition.
6. A New Type of Congregationalist Hymnal
(1887-1893)
In intended contrast to the voluminous collections of Dr.
Robinson so widely used came the first of a series of hymn
books by Charles H. Richards, Christian Praise (later Songs
of Christian Praise, New York, 1880), and the Oberlin
The Manual of Praise (Oberlin, 1880; followed by The
new Manual of Praise, 1901). The books represented a
conviction that a smaller collection fulfilled the needs of
worship, but were dominated neither by the literary nor
liturgical motive. They sought rather the average taste
and attainment. The musical standard of the Oberlin book
was that of Mason and Bradbury : Dr. Richards' main-
tained a survival of the "parlor music" era mingling with
the Anglican tunes.
From experiments made at Providence in the introduc-
tion of the Anglican tunes and a more severe standard in
the choice of hymns grew up Hymns of the Faith with
Psalms (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1887) edited
by George Harris, W. J. Tucker and E. K. Glezen. Its
form and open typography, its prose Psalter set to Anglican
chants, its "more discriminating judgment of the vast num-
ber of hymns found in former collections," its arrangement
of the hymns under the articles of the Apostles' Creed,
558 THE ENGLISH HYMN
and its Anglican music, infused for the first time the appeal
of culture permeated by churchliness into the note of Con-
gregationalist Praise in America. H adaptive rather than
originative, Hymns of the Faith led the way in the move-
ment to improve Church Song in a denomination that had
somehow failed to maintain the highest standard of out-
ward reverence in worship or to develop the amenities of
sanctified culture.
As beautiful in its way, and even more frank in its
recognition of the "far superior" spiritual quality of the
new Anglican music, was the last important Congregation-
alist hymnal of the century, The Plymouth Hymnal, edited
by Lyman Abbott (New York: the Outlook Co., 1893), so
named as in proud succession to Mr. Beecher's Plymouth
Collection. Although rich in liturgical materials and sug-
gestion, the book gives an impression of a literary rather
than a liturgical motive. It aims to embody the changes
of doctrine and emphasis that have passed over Puritan
theology and into Christian experience, and to stimulate
the new aggressive mood of the Christian life. It may be
that these novelties hindered the immediate circulation of
a book whose editing and format were fitted to be a model.
None the less it was in accord with the tendency of the
time. And something of its spirit and even of its manner
passed into The Pilgrim Hymnal, which may be held to
represent the advanced Hymnody of XXth century Con-
gregationalism.
7. The Baptists Maintain the Homiletical Type
TILL the Century's End
American Baptists as a body represent the type of mind
and experience least open to such influences as emanated
from Oxford and most independent of liturgical considera-
tions. The Baptist Hymn and Tune Book (Philadelphia:
Publication Society, 1871) is a very voluminous evangelical
hymn book, and would have been substantially the same if
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 559
Hymns ancient and modern had not yet appeared: it was
indeed very recent. The same thing is true of The Baptist
Praise Book: for congregational singing (Barnes and Co.,
1872), edited by a company of divines, headed by Richard
Fuller. The one with 975, the other with 131 1, hymns,
are eclectic rather than discriminating, and doubtless homi-
letic rather than liturgical.
The second hymnal of the American Baptist Publication
Society was The Baptist Hymnal (Philadelphia: 1883).
Beyond a reduction of the number of hymns from the 975
of the The Baptist Hymn Book to 703, it represents less of
an effort to improve the standard of Hymnody than a wish
to gratify all parties. If the new Anglican Hymnody is
represented, so is "Fanny Crosby" by 17 hymns. If Dykes
has 19 tunes and Barnby 8, Lowell Mason has 76 and
W. H. Doane (one of the editors) no less than 35. The
hymnal followed the pattern set by Dr. Robinson's earlier
books, but with a literary and devotional standard made
more "popular" by its large use of "Gospel Hymns."
Dr. E. H. Johnson shared in the compilation of The
Baptist Hymnal, but could not have controlled it. He be-
came in time the responsible editor of the Publication
Society's third book, with the fancy name of Sursum Corda
(Philadelphia, 1898). He was now certainly an advocate
of the best types of modern hymns, as against Gospel
Songs and much of the older Evangelical Hymnody, and
an enthusiast for the superiority of Anglican church music.
For his 856 hymns he provided and printed on greatly over-
crowded pages no less than 1346 tunes, that every hymn
might have a setting of the Anglican standard. Sursum
Corda did not gain the popularity and use of its predecessor.
A good purpose, carefully carried out with infinite pains,
no doubt overreached itself. It is indeed easier to plan,
within the walls of a Seminary, the elevation of the literary
and musical standards of a Church's devotion, than to
change the habits and tastes of a great body of people who
do not share the Seminary advantages.
56o THE ENGLISH HYMN
8. The Lutherans Develop a Churchly Hymnody
(1863-1899)
The many years' conflict which weakened and divided
American Lutheranism was in substance the variance be-
tween high church and low church ideals. Augsburg
Lutheranism had much in common with Anglicanism; and
in the Lutheran as in the Episcopal Church the controversy
was inevitably liturgical. The General Council was formed,
after the disintegrations of the Civil War period, of the
conservative and strict churchly elements. One of its con-
stituent bodies, the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, had al-
ready entered upon the work of liturgical reconstruction
on historic lines; having in 1863 appointed a committee to
prepare a Church Book, "with an ample Selection of Hymns,
with special reference to the doctrine and usages of our
Church." ^*^^ The Hymn section appeared tentatively as
Hymns for the use of the Evangelical LutJieran Church
(Philadelphia, 1865), and was the work of B. M.
Schmucker and Frederic M. Bird; the lattfer the most dili-
gent and capable of a small group of Americans who had
undertaken the systematic study of Hymnology. The Eng-
lish Church Book appeared at Philadelphia in 1868, con-
taining 588 hymns; being at once a liturgy and a hymnal;
and again in 1872, with music arranged for the use of
congregations, by Harriet Reynolds Krauth. The hymnal
is at once Lutheran and catholic. German Hymnody is
represented by 167 translations, the Greek by 11, the Latin
by 42. The remainder is an admirable representation of all
periods of English Hymnody, including the Anglican, but
with the foremost place given to Watts and Charles Wesley.
There was at the time no American hymnal so fully repre-
sentative of the development of Hymnody, so discriminating
in selection, so scholarly in treatment. In Miss Krauth's
musical setting the German choral is fittingly preeminent,
"^Preface to Hymns of 1865. See also A. Spaeth, "Liturgical De-
velopment of the Ministerium," Lutheran Church Review, Jan. 1898,
p. 116.
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 561
supplemented by the English tunes most in accord with its
spirit ; and the concessions to popular demand are compara-
tively slight. English-speaking Lutheranism had at last
expressed itself in a hymnal worthy of its own traditions/^^
and on a plane where no other American denomination
could hope to meet it. Beside this Lutheran hymnal of
1868 the Protestant Episcopal Hymnal of 1872 seems like
an amateur performance, and its musical settings of even
date with Miss Krauth's like an appeal to popular taste.
A supplement of 62 hymns, bringing the whole number to
650, was added in the 1891 adaptation of the Church Book
to the new "Common Service."
After the Civil War the Synod of the Confederate States
remained apart under a new name, and printed its own
liturgy as The Book of Worship. Published by order of
the Evangelical Lutheran General Synod in NortJi America
(Columbia, S. C, 1867). The 465 hymns of this book have
little or nothing to distinguish them from the hymn books
of surrounding Evangelical denominations. The diminished
General Synod also revised its Hymnody on the basis of
the Hymns, selected and original of 1852 as Book of Wor-
ship, published by the General Synod of the Lutheran
Church in the United States (Philadelphia: Board of Pub-
lication, 1871). This was simply a hymn book, preceded
by an order of worship covering some eight pages, and
followed by doctrinal and governmental standards. The
hymns, both by omissions and additions, show growth in
discrimination, but none toward churchliness.
The General Synod was nevertheless stirred by the re-
vival of church life and desire for Lutheran unity that was
in the air, and joined with the Southern Synod and General
Council in the preparation of The Common Service for the
use of Evangelical Lutheran congregations (1888) on the
basis of the "common consent of the pure Lutheran liturgies
of the XVIth century." For binding up with The Common
"'For a review of the hymns and music of the Church Book, see
"The Service of Song" in The Penn Monthly, Dec. 1872.
562 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Service as its own Book of Worship, two committees of the
General Synod of 1893 prepared Hymns and Tunes (1899).
It is a modern collection, still strong in the XVIIIth century
Evangelical Hymnody, and with more of the Anglican than
the Lutheran hymns. In the tunes the Lowell Mason and
parlor music type, as well as the Anglican, are largely repre-
sented; the German chorals more sparingly. The church
year is much more liberally provided for, and the sacra-
mental tone is somewhat higher.
The largest of Lutheran bodies in America is the Synod-
ical Conference organized in 1872 on the strictest Lutheran
basis, and dominated by the powerful Synod of Missouri.
Originally almost exclusively German, when a beginning
was made in establishing English services, a little book of
Hymns of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (St. Louis,
1886) served; its 33 hymns being all translations from the
German. In 1889 followed Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-
Book. By authority of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of
Missouri and other States (Baltimore) ; enlarged and bound
up with The Common Service in 1893. This is the most
distinctively Lutheran of all the hymn books; no less than
209 of its 450 hymns being translations of German Lutheran
hymns in metres permitting the use of the associated chorals.
With the adoption of The Common Service by the Missouri
Synod, the project of uniting English-speaking Lutheranism
in a common liturgical worship was achieved, leaving the
further project of a common hymnal for fulfilment in the
XXth century.
The course of Lutheran Hymnody, as we have followed
it, makes plain why that Church has done so little in the
way of acclimating the old Lutheran hymns and chorals in
other denominations. The English-speaking congregations
wished to use the hymns of their American neighbors, and
even in adopting for church use the versions of German
hymns by Miss Winkworth, Mills, Massie and others, they
have been followers rather than leaders. American Luther-
anism presents a curious case of an immigrant Church
THE OXFORD REVIVAL 563
merging its inheritance and traditions in its new surround-
ings until spurred by the pressure of new immigrations to
recover what it had lost. And it may be that the real
Lutheran influence on American Hymnody lies in the future.
9. Anglican Hymnody Accommodated to the "New
Church'' (1863-1911)
The influence of Anglican ideals upon the New Church
in America showed itself in the Rev. Frank Sewall's The
Christian Hymnal (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1867), espe-
cially as bound up with his Book of holy Offices as A Prayer-
Book and Hymnal for the use of the New Church (1867).
Its very large use of Hymns ancient and modern was not-
able at that date, as was its addiction to versions of German
hymns with their chorals. Sewall was also a member of
the committee compiling The Book of Worship: prepared
for the use of the New Church, by order of the General
Convention (New York, 1876), including chants, anthems
and 153 hymns with tunes. In this the liturgy was much
more independent of the Book of Common Prayer, and the
Latin and German hymns were less conspicuous; but even
so there were more hymns from Hymns ancient and modern
than from the Hymns of the English New Church Confer-
ence. The collection was rather meagre, and some congre-
gations had recourse to the English hymn book.
Sewall was the leading spirit in the preparation of a
new collection, The Magnificat: compiled for the use of
the New Church by a committee of the General Conven-
tion (New York, 1893). His tastes and preferences as
exhibited in The Christian Hymnal, and his method of
providing a New Church Hymnody by using that of the
"old" Church, with necessary modifications of text, largely
dominated The Magnificat. Sewall was chairman, once
more, of the committee that prepared the "revised and
enlarged" edition of 191 1 (New York: Board of Publn.),
deserving to be called a new book, yet retaining many char-
acteristics of The Christian Hymnal of 1867. The New
564 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Church presents the interesting case of a man fitting himself
for leadership in the Church Song of his denomination,
pursuing high ideals musical, literary and liturgical, and
finding his leadership accepted through half a century. An
advancing ideal has also distinguished the Sunday school
Hymnody of the New Church, from the simplicities of
Sewall's The Welcome (Philada., 1879) through The
Hosanna (New York, 1878) and The new Hosanna (New
York, 1902).
An examination of New Church hymn books makes it
evident that the contributions from within are inadequate
to its needs. No doubt its method of adapting hymns from
without to its own ends by eliminating "every expression of
false doctrine" ^°^ is, as in the case of the Unitarians, trying
to those who care for the integrity of these hymns.
'"^Preface of 191 1.
CHAPTER XI
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY
I
THE INFLUENCES THAT HAVE MOULDED IT
We have now studied the development in form and sub-
stance of the Enghsh Hymn as it took the place of the
Metrical Psalm in the Congregational Song of English-
speaking Protestantism, and have traced up to the XXth
century the growth and upbuilding of the general body of
this Church Hymnody. It remains only to consider our
present-day Hymnody, as representing the latest stage of
this development.
It will be remembered that Church Hymnody had begun
to take shape before the end of the XVIIth century, but that
the Hymns of Dr. Watts, in the first decade of the XVIIIth,
did so much to establish its form, and contributed so much
to its substance, as to make it the main basis of our modern
Church Hymnody. The seed Watts planted sprang up and
was cultivated by many hands; and upon the new growth
the powerful influences of the Great Revival began to play
before the middle of the XVIIIth century, imparting new
color and variant forms to the original stock. The Hym-
nody of the Calvinistic side of the Revival and an infusion,
at first small but ever growing, of the Hymnody of its
Methodist side, coalesced with the hymns of Watts and his
school to constitute a general body of Church Hymnody, —
that already designated as the XVIIIth century Evangelical
Hymnody.
The Hymnody was not originally conceived of as super-
565
566 THE ENGLISH HYMN
seding the body of metrical psalms then in use but as sup-
plementing it. It arose out of the conviction that the songs
of the Christian Church should embody not only the
prophecy of the Gospel in David but also its fulfilment in
Christ, and it was hence evangelical in motive. It was to
bear something of the same relation to the New Testament
the Psalmody had borne to the Old, and was- hence still
Scriptural in method. It was to correspond with the doc-
trines of salvation preached from the pulpits, and was hence
theological in substance and form. The metrical psalms
still remained to meet in large measure the needs of devo-
tion, and hence the more special function of the Hymnody
was homiletical.
Upon this earlier Hymnody, as thus conceived and ex-
pressed, there have played through some two centuries all
those forces and influences that on the one hand give con-
tinuity to Christianity and on the other tend to modify
Christian thought and life, church worship and activities.
And so when we turn to the Church Hymnody of the present
day, and compare it with the earlier Hymnody, we see that
it still stands on the basis laid for it in the XVIIIth century,
and that a considerable though steadily diminishing nucleus
of XVIIIth century hymns testifies to the continuity of its
development. We see also on the other hand that in every
one of the respects just mentioned — motive, method, sub-
stance, form, function — our Church Hymnody has been
modified by the forces and influences that have played upon
it.
These influences, as we have studied them, have shown
themselves to fall mainly under four types, — revival,
literary, liturgical, and doctrinal ; and all four types of
influences, though in themselves more or less modified by
present day conditions and tendencies, continue to operate
in the XXth century, conducing still further to revise and
modify the Hymnody, and giving to XXth century Hym-
nody some features that are distinguishable even from the
later XlXth century Hymnody.
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 567
II
HOW FAR AFFECTED BY MODERN
EVANGELISM
The Revival Influence was the first to affect the Hym-
nody, and has affected it in the same way from the XVIIIth
century Revival to the latest evangelism. The Methodist
Movement modified the ideal of the Hymn, and created
the Evangelistic Hymn, and each succeeding revival move-
ment has turned from the established Church Hymnody
and created an independent body of Spiritual Song with a
fresher warmth and an immediate appeal to popular taste.
And then out of each successive contribution of revival song
a proportion, larger or smaller, has ultimately found its
way into the permanent Hymnody of the Church. Both of
these processes — the creation and the winnowing — have
been already traced up to the present time.
In recent years two facts have militated against the ad-
mission of current evangelistic songs into the Church Hym-
nody. One is the inferior quality of the songs in them-
selves, giving them if any the most ephemeral popularity:
the other the strictness with which any such as attain
popularity are guarded as copyright property. Indeed it is
only now, as the copyrights on the "Moody and Sankey
songs" are beginning to expire, that some few of the best
of them appear in one or another hymnal intended for
church use.
Ill
ITS MORE EXACTING LITERARY STANDARD
The Literary Movement was at heart a protest against the
theological conception of the Hymn and the didacticism of
the earlier hymns. But it was inevitable that the influences
of literary culture should play upon the Hymnody, just as
they had done upon the earlier Psalmody, that they should
raise a literary standard, and by winnowing and adding,
should develop a body of more poetic hymns.
568 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In recent years the literary tests applied to XVIIIth
century hymns have tended to grow more exacting,* and
many once familiar are passing out of use for no reason
other than their unsatisfying craftmanship. In filling the
gap thus created by the exclusion of older material the
literary motive effected long ago an improved expression of
the recognized hymn form; it now tends greatly to widen
the definition of the Hymn itself by annexing to the domain
of Hymnody numerous religious lyrics heretofore not re-
garded as within the definition of liturgical poetry. In-
stances of this are to be found in the ballad-like "O little
town of Bethlehem" of Bishop Brooks, and in the intense
and generally subjective lyrics of Miss Rossetti. It has
already become somewhat difficult to define the distinction
between the Hymn and the religious lyric. The (American)
Methodist Hymnal of 1905 has gone out of its way to
secure Dr. Holland's "There's a star in the sky," and
Lanier's "Into the woods my Master went," and other
current lyrics. And to the Presbyterians belongs the dis-
tinction of introducing into the hymn book Tennyson's
"Sunset and evening star," whose immediate acceptance by
all the Churches is itself significant.
In the Anglican Church the growth of the literary motive
is still somewhat impeded by the liturgical. The new
edition of Hymns ancient and modern ( 1904) is still heavily
weighted with the dull and lifeless verse provided to cover
saints' days and other times and seasons. Its great rival.
Church Hymns (new edition, 1903) has more literary
brightness and much more scrupulous concern for the
authors' text. But in 1906 appeared a fresh collection, at
once an extreme Anglican and a literary hymn book, —
The English Hymnal zvith times (Oxford: the University
Press, 1906). It aimed to present "the best hymns in the
English language," and gave many new versions of ancient
and foreign hymns. Free use is made of Robert Bridges'
'For a vigorous protest see Thos. Wright, Augustus M. Toplady,
London, 191 1, preface.
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 569
Yattendon Hymnal; and of the six compilers no less than
four (W. J. Birkbeck, Athelstan Riley, T. A. Lacey, and
Percy Dearmer) prove to be translators with the literary
touch. Among XXth century men of letters who appear in
it as hymn writers are Laurence Housman, Arthur C. Ben-
son, Gilbert K. Chesterton ("O God of earth and altar"),
and Rudyard Kipling, whose "God of our fathers, known
of old" has attained considerable vogue as a hymn. With
these may be grouped Canon Scott Holland ("Judge eternal,
throned in splendor") and Arthur C. Ainger, whose "God
is working His purpose out" bids fair to attain a great
success.
The English Hymnal is notable for its charming format,
the width and freedom of its range, the unconventional use
of carol and traditional as well as plain song melodies, and its
exceptional scholarship. Handicapped by extreme doctrine,
it has created none the less a decided impression of novel
charm, and can hardly fail to have a permanent influence
on Anglican Hymnody. TJic Oxford Hymn Book. Ox-
ford: at the Clarendon Press, ipo8, characterized by The
Spectator as "a very noteworthy collection of noble
hymns," ^ may be regarded as a protest in some sort against
certain tendencies of the literary movement; — aiming at
"simplicity, directness and genuineness of religious feeling,"
and the avoidance "of cheap sentiment, of conventional and
rhetorical form, and of weak and honeyed phrase." ^
There can be no doubt that the literary level of recent
hymn books as a whole has been greatly raised, and it can
hardly be said that the devotional level has suffered from
that cause. The contempt and disregard of Hymnody by
literary critics has so far yielded that the appearance of a
three-column review of The English Hymnal in the prin-
cipal literary organ of England"* does not now occasion
any surprise. '
'For November 21, 1908.
^Preface, p. vi.
*The Athenaeum for September 29, 1906.
570 THE ENGLISH HYMN
IV
ITS REVERSION TO A MOTIVE MORE STRICTLY
DEVOTIONAL
The Liturgical Movement, to some extent from the be-
ginning, and in later years very markedly, has shown itself
as divisive rather than unifying in its effects upon Church
Hymnody. The various forces that are always working to
revise and modify that Hymnody have in these latter days
come under subjection to what seems the irresistible reli-
gious trend of our times, that of unification : the inherited
area of Hymnody characteristic of each denomination con-
sequently tending to shrink, and the body of hymns which
all alike sing in common tending to enlarge. Until now
the hymns of the English-speaking Churches present a strik-
ing testimony to the spiritual unity of these Churches. To
this the Hymnody of the advanced Anglican school, whether
we choose to regard it as Catholic or sectarian, continues to
present itself as the most conspicuous exception. G. R.
Woodward's Songs of Syon ( 1904) was compiled only "for
the faithful" as distinguished from "the enquirers after
truth." George H. Palmer's The Hymner, containing trans-
lations from the Sarum Breviary, together with sundry
sequences and processions (Plainsong Society, 1904), and
The new Office Hymn Book of J. F. W. Bullock and
C. J. Ridsdale, appearing in complete form in 1908, repre-
sent a party and not a church. The English Hymnal, whose
literary distinction has been noticed claims that "it is not a
party book," ^ but it did provide for the extreme party
metrical prayers for the dead, and hymns invoking the
intercession of the Virgin Mary^ and sundry saints; so that
"Preface, p. iii.
' "For the faithful gone before us
May the holy Virgin pray." Hy. 218, stanza 6.
"Jesu's tender Mother,
Make thy supplication
Unto him who chose thee
At his Incarnation." Hy. 213, stanza 4.
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 571
it was prohibited or pronounced against by several bishops
and both archbishops J In settlement of the issue raised,
an abridged edition appeared in March, 1907, omitting
five^ and amending four hymns.^ This settlement was
hailed by Canon Scott Holland as "A truce of God," ^^ but
it was the opinion of others^ ^ that if the excision had ex-
tended to some score of hymns The English Hymnal, with
"its irresistible merits" and "its profoundly interesting
music," ^^ would have broken the supremacy of Hymns
ancient and modern, already weakened by the peculiarities
of the edition of 1904.
If, however, the extreme developments of the Liturgical
Movement are still divisive, marking a widening breach be-
tween Anglicanism and Protestantism, this is far from
being true of the Liturgical Movement as a whole. We
have seen how the party of the Oxford Movement took the
leadership in Hymnody out of the hands of the Evangelicals
within the Church of England, and the surprising degree to
which not only that Church but the non-episcopal Churches
outside were won over to the Oxford ideals and methods of
Church Song.
To appreciate the full effects of this Oxford leadership
upon the actual Hymnody and hymn singing of to-day we
must recur once more to the original motive in introducing
the Hymn into church worship; — the evangelical motive
of securing a Church Song on all fours with the gospel
preached : the Psalms remaining to respond to the needs of
devotion, the Hymns added to respond to the truths
preached. No doubt this evangelical motive moved the
'See The Churchman, July 7, Nov. 3, 24, Dec. 8, 22, 1906; January
26, 1907.
'Nos. 185, 195, 208, 213, 350. *Nos. 184, 200, 218, 253.
'"In The Christian Commonwealth (see The Churchman, Jan. 26,
1907.
"C/. Canon Julian in his Diet, of Hymnology, p. 1633.
''Scott Holland, ut supra. "It would have been an unspeakable
disaster if we had not been free to put it to full use. Now — all is
possible."
572 THE ENGLISH HYMN
hearts of preacher and people alike, but the preachers' crav-
ing for hymns adapted to their sermons was obviously the
efficient cause of their introduction. Keach, Watts,
Doddridge, Stennett, Newton, wrote their hymns under the
glow of sermon composition, and often with the intention
of employing them to impress its teachings. This homi-
letical conception and use of hymns became a part of the
Evangelical inheritance, and so predominated in practice
that the more purely devotional Psalmody fell into disuse.
Through the first half of the XlXth century and beyond
the hymn books of the denominations suggestively de-
scribed as "non-liturgical," bear witness to the prevailing
homiletical motive, in the didactic character of the hymns,
their multiplication to cover the largest possible number
of texts and themes, the manner of their arrangement, and
the textual and analytical indexes at the end. And we have
seen how fully the practice of Hymnody corresponded. It
was the minister's rather than the people's ordinance, a
Hymnody of expression on his part, of impression on
theirs. He selected the hymns not for their intrinsic values,
but because of their adaptation to his sermon theme; he
read them through as poetical illustrations of his theme,
though often calling for abridgment in the singing; and
then they were given to the people who had no musical
notes before them, and who in all the denominations evinced
a very moderate desire to sing, or interest in the materials
set before them.
Meantime a knowledge of Oxford ideals was being dif-
fused ; arousing a new interest in the history of the ancient
and medieval Church, its prayers and hymns, and in the
Common Prayer Book. The theory of worship was freshly
studied and question raised whether the hearing of sermons
fulfilled it : What were the right relations and proportions of
homily, praise and prayer? Was not Praise worth while
for its own sake; and were not its interests suffering by
its being made an appendage to the sermon? Was not the
ancient ideal of a Hymnody that circled with the church
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 573
year, or even the Reformation ideal of a Psalmody sung
through in course, more comely and more edifying than the
Evangelical ideal of a Hymnody appropriated by the pulpit
to furnish enforcement or illustraion of its themes?
Gradually the influence of the Oxford Movement became
apparent in many directions; in the church architecture,
decorations and fittings; in a slow but steady transition of
the conception and practice of worship from the homiletical
ideal to the liturgical; most obviously in the general recog-
nition and hearty observance of the greater festivals of
the Christian Year.
This influence, it should be observed, has been liturgical
rather than doctrinal. None of the non-episcopal Churches
has revised its doctrine of church and sacrament under
pressure from Oxford, but all of them have modified their
worship. And the change that has passed over the face of
the Hymnody of these Churches, so far as the Oxford in-
fluences have been concerned in that change, is one corre-
sponding to the change in public worship itself. It is more
than any change of form or method; it is a change in spirit,
a modification of the original motive underlying hymn
singing. As we have followed the Liturgical Movement it
has been striking enough no doubt to see the Latin Hymn
lose its taint in Churches which had accounted it "Roman
Catholic," to see the didactic hymn and the "preaching
hymn" give way to new hymns from Anglican sources, to
see the Hymnody of the times and seasons of the Christian
Year established in Churches that once studiously ignored
festival and fast, to see the Anglican type of hymn tune
displacing the parlor-music type: — but the change brought
about in Hymnody by the Liturgical Movement is more
than the sum of all these specific changes. The very base
of the ordinance of Hymnody has been shifted from the
homiletical foundation on which the Evangelicals established
it, and restored to the more devotional foundation on which
the old Psalmody rested. And the changes in the Hymnody
are a part of the process of its reconstruction as an inde-
574 THE ENGLISH HYMN
pendent ordinance of Christian worship expressing the de-
votions of God's people.
Surveying the results of this process as embodied in the
recent hymnals of "non-liturgical" Churches, one gets the
impression that the books are less didactic and more devo-
tional than ever before, and that possibly the reconstruction
has gone as far in a liturgical direction as may be practi-
cable or prudent. In present-day hymnals of denomina-
tions maintaining a modern standard of culture, no great
difference in structure or method can be observed between
the moderate Anglican and the non-episcopal. Each is
readily divisible into two sections. The first covers times
and seasons, including all the great facts and doctrines of
the Christian Year and occasions of worship. The second
(called "General" in Anglican books and in others by some
other name) gathers up the hymns of wider application and
especially of Christian experience. In the Anglican books
there is much provision for saints' days and other occasions
not celebrated in non-episcopal Churches; in the books of
the latter there is generally a fuller recognition of Christian
experience : and these differences substantially measure such
contrast as still exists between them. It is doubtless true
that in many pulpits the practice of handling the hymnal
as though a cyclopedia of homiletical illustrations still sur-
vives, but the modern hymnal is as ill-adapted to serve that
end as the practice itself is unacceptable to modern feeling
and taste.
V
ITS THEOLOGY
I. Changing Religious Thought Makes This a
Period of Revision
The Church Hymnody as a whole has been the expression
of an evangelical theology and an evangelical experience.
Beginning with Watts it recorded the Calvinistic faith, not
polemically, but because it was the faith of him who wrote
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 575
and those who were to be induced to sing. The opposition
Hymnody of Wesley's revolt against Calvinism, aggress-
ively polemical or definitely Arminian, remained always a
thing apart, and tended rather to impart to the main stream
of Hymnody, through the Evangelical Revival, a more
definitely Calvinistic tone. The evangelical side of the
Wesleyan Hymnody fell in gradually with the main stream,
and perceptibly deepened it in Christian experience, and
widened it with evangelistic purpose and expression. The
subsequent Unitarian Movement left the bounds of the
historic Churches, and left their Hymnody unaffected doc-
trinally. The Oxford Movement was primarily in the
domain of ecclesiology, exalting the doctrine of church and
sacraments. Its primary effect on the general Hymnody
was liturgical rather than doctrinal, but it operated also
through its disregard of the older dogma, and more by
putting the corporate Church in the place the individual
saint and sinner had occupied in the older hymns of
experience.
On the whole the present day Hymnody of the main body
of English-speaking Churches may be claimed as consistent
with an evangelical system of doctrine and with evan-
gelical convictions and experience.
It has now, however, become evident to all observers that
recent movements and tendencies of theological thought,
at first operating on the outside of, or at the left of, the field
of Christian thought, are now brought to bear upon its
centre and right; and that even the Churches of the evan-
gelical faith are included in a process of change which in
the hope of many involves no more than doctrinal adjust-
ment but which in the opinion of others must lead to theo-
logical reconstruction. It would be idle to pretend that
changed conceptions of God and His immanence in creation,
modified views of the Scriptures and novel methods of
exegesis, the partial disintegration of Calvinism in denom-
inations where it long prevailed, the rediscussion of the
great doctrines of redemption, the new adjustments of
576 THE ENGLISH HYMN
temporal and eternal relations, the growth of a Christian
agnosticism, and hesitation in dogmatic statement or even
denial of the validity of dogma; — it would be idle to pre-
tend that these things are working no changes in the Hym-
nody of the Churches they affect.
The connection between Christian thought and feeling
and Christian Hymnody is inevitably close. Nothing is
more futile than a congregational song that does not ex-
press the living faith of the congregation and its warmth of
feeling. And with the ever present fluctuation of thought
and feeling a discreet pastor is always revising the Hymnody
through his selection of the hymns given out for the actual
use of his congregation. A change in Christian thought
and feeling affects the Hymnody in two ways, ist, it
applies a fresh test to familiar hymns, and tends to the
disuse of such of them as have lost their power of appeal.
2nd, it creates a new body of hymns, and even tunes, in-
fused with fresh feeling and responsive to current concep-
tions of Christian truth. ^^ This explains in part why in
these times of change the various denominations feel the
need of revising their church hymnals at shorter intervals.
It explains also why numerous leaders of recent religious
thought have anticipated the authorized revision of their
denominational hymnal by publishing independent hymnals
" "Every one at all familiar with the history of religious experience
is aware how sensitive popular song has been as an index of popular
feeling. Nowhere is the power of psychologic suggestion upon the
masses more evident than in the domain of song. Hardly does a
revolutionary religious idea, struck from the brains of a few leading
thinkers and reformers, effect a lodgment in the hearts of any con-
siderable section of the common people, than it is immediately pro-
jected in hymns and melodies. It is not too much to say that no idea
has a real vital energizing power that does not so manifest itself. So
far as it is no mere scholastic formula, but possesses the power to
kindle an active life in the soul, it will quickly clothe itself in figurative
speech and musical cadence, and in many cases it will filter itself
through this medium until all that is crude, formal, and speculative is
drained away, and what is essential and fruitful is retained as a per-
manent spiritual possession." Edw. Dickinson, "The Lesson of the
New Hymnals," in The Bibliotheca Sacra, July 1900, p. 571.
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 577
of their own, either to meet a need they recognized or as an
effective method of propaganda.
At the present time this revision of the Church Hymnody
is proceeding simuhaneously in so many denominations and
with so much activity and zeal as to suggest a gentle up-
heaval and the beginning of a new epoch. In England
within the opening years of the XXth century their Church
hymnals have been revised by the Anglicans (unofficially),
the Presbyterians, and the various Methodist Churches : in
Canada by the Anglicans ; in the United States by the Pres-
byterians, the two Methodist Episcopal bodies, the Wes-
leyan Methodists, the Methodist Protestants, the Congre-
gationalists (by their Publication Society), the German
Baptists, the Reformed Episcopalians and the Swedenbor-
gians. To these we may add the Christian Scientists, in
view of the novelty of their doctrinal views embodied in
CJiristian Science Hymnal (Boston: rev. ed. 1898) at the
century's end. At the moment of writing revisions of the
denominational hymn books are in progress in England
by the Congregationalists and Moravians : in Canada by
the Presbyterians and Methodists : in the United States by
the various Lutheran Churches in a concerted movement
for a conmion hymnal, the Episcopalians, the German and
the Dutch Reformed Churches. Apart from these bodies
the current hymnodic activity and spirit of change (not
necessarily of doctrinal change) is illustrated in the in-
creasing use of vernacular hymns by the Roman Catholic
Church, not only in families and schools but in parochial
services other than the Mass; and also in the introduction
of hymn-singing into Quaker meetings both in America
and England. The Golden Hymn Book. Compiled by M.
Catharine Albright (London: Frowde, 1903) is a book of
considerable charm as well as significance. The Friends'
Hymnal . . . for the public worship of the Society (New
York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1906: rev. ed. 1908), an author-
ized book and fully equipped with music, will grieve some
who have cultivated the silences of the old meetings.
578 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In view of the spirit of revision so active in denomina-
tions having an authorized Hymnody, and of the increasing
excellence of their hymnals, both the significance and op-
portunity of the hymnals still issuing independently are
considerably lessened. In stimulating and in a measure
guiding the improvement of church hymnals, as they have
undoubtedly done, these personal and unauthorized collec-
tions have served a public function now largely fulfilled.
In churches without an authorized Hymnody, such as the
Church of England and American Congregationalism, they
necessarily still hold the field.
2. The New Theology Demands a New Hymnody
It is on the left wing of Christianity that the new move-
ments of religious thought have had the freest sweep. We
have already noted the passing of the old Unitarianism into
a free and "universal" religion, and how as early as 1864
in America Longfellow and Johnson in their Hymns of
the Spirit and in 1873 in England James Martineau in his
Hymns of Praise and Prayer provided the new faith with
a Hymnody that confessedly transcended the limits of
historical Christianity.
The most recent authorized hymnal of a denomination,
now debating the retention of the Unitarian name, is The
new Hymn and Tune Book (Boston: American Unitarian
Association, 1914) ; prepared by a committee of the Asso-
ciation; "offered to all who love perfect liberty in pure
religion." It may be regarded as a revision of The Hymn
and Tune Book of 1877, of whose 885 hymns only 242
are retained, "owing to the great changes in religious
thought." ^^ In its provision for the greater days of the
Christian Year, and its section on "The Ministry and exam-
ple of Jesus," it follows Martineau rather than Longfellow :
in its aspirations for public service and social righteousness
it is richer than either. Of its "authors" Frederick L.
Hosmer leads with 34 hymns, closely followed by Samuel
"Preface.
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 579
Longfellow with 27. Whittier has 18 and T. H. Gill 11.
Much of their work is universally acceptable; and to the
compilers of this book one ventures to apply the avowal
of Martineau's preface: *'For myself, both conviction and
feeling keep me close to the poetry and piety of Christen-
dom." 15
Within the area of a more evangelical Congregationalism
the relations of Hymnody to dogmatic theology had been
fought over and virtually settled in the controversy over
Thomas Toke Lynch's The Rivulet (1855).^" His oppo-
nents claimed that every hymn should be a statement of
definite doctrine, and accused his hymns with being full
of "negative theology" : a charge which Lynch paraphrased
(and disposed of) in his well-known lines beginning, —
"When sugar in the lump I see,
I know that it is there,
Melt it, and then I soon suspect
A negative affair.'""
But in 1889 John Hunter, of Trinity Congregational
Church, Glasgow, a devoted follower of Maurice, in his
Hymns of Fait Ji and Life (Glasgow, IMaclehose) undertook
to embody "the modern spirit" not "negatively" but posi-
tively. Dogmatic statements of older doctrines, such as the
line of Heber's hymn, "God in Three Persons, blessed Trin-
ity," were scrupulously eschewed in favor of expressions
of "the largest and simplest aspects of Christian faith and
life." "The divineness of the present life" was set against
the unreality of the evangelical "otherworldliness," and
"the larger hope" against the orthodox eschatology. Hun-
ter's book had a very limited congregational use, but in
many ways it prefigured and even influenced the trend of
present-day Hymnody. The work of Garrett Horder, al-
ready noticed in connection with the Literary Movement,
must be regarded as following in the same lines as Hunter's,
"Preface to Hymns of Praise and Prayer, p. xi.
"See chap, ix, part III, section iv, 2.
^'Songs controversial (1856), no. viii.
58o THE ENGLISH HYMN
notably in its eager repudiation of the dogmatic spirit
and its frank adhesion to the modern spirit in faith and
hfe.is
In America at the end of the XlXth century not only
the authorized hymnals of the Evangelical Churches but
the books of private enterprise gaining any extensive use
within their bounds were carefully conformed to the strictest
standards of orthodoxy. This is true, for example, of
Bedell's ChurcJi Hyrnnary (1891), Robinson's The nezv
Lmides Domini (J892), The Coronation Hymnal (1894),
In Excelsis (1897) ^^'^^^ Johnson's Sursum Corda (1898).
Lyman Abbott's The Plymouth Hymnal (1893) is an ex-
ception not as aiming to exclude evangelical or even Cal-
vinistic hymns, but rather in not seeking "to conform to
any school of thought" and in seeking to represent "all
phases of Christian experience." Even so his book neither
found nor made for itself a wide place.
The new tendencies in Hymnody found for the first time
a full presentation under "orthodox" denominational aus-
pices in TJie Pilgrim Hymnal. The Pilgrim Press: New
York, Boston, Chicago [1904] : the "product of a sys-
tematic undertaking" on the part of the Congregational
Sunday-school and Publishing Society which had already
issued Pilgrim Songs for Sunday schools, "to provide a
uniform series of hymnals for the churches of our order."
It purports to represent the desires of a large number of
people, ascertained by "a questionnaire, submitted to some
200 representative men of our churches in all parts of the
country," ^^ a considerable number of whom served as an
"advisory cabinet" to Charles L. Noyes, the editor, and
Dr. Washington Gladden, the associate editor; the latter of
whom merged in this the plans for a hymnal projected by
himself.^*^
The Pilgrim Hymnal obviously responds to an undoubted
" "The theologian's success is the hymnist's faiUire." Horder, "The
Theology of our Hymns" in The Outlook for Sept. 11, 1897.
'•"Editorial Notes," p. 570. '"'Ibid., p. 571.
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 581
demand for a new Hymnody that shall in doctrinal expres-
sion and emphasis correspond with what is called the New
Theology and in vigor and tone help to inspire the new-
found readiness for active service. It thus becomes an
important and representative document for studying the
trend of the new Hymnody. Its criteria seem to be: —
1. Modernity. "There is a vigorous effort to omit
whatever uses the terminology of the past, in favor of that
which is deemed more in harmony with the present." ^^
2. An emphasis on God's immanence, so that in hymns
of adoration He shall appear less as the throned majestic
Personage, apart from the world, of the older hymns, and
more as a Spirit of Power and Love resident in the world
and operating within the hearts of all men.
3. An indefinitencss as to the nature and person and
work of Christ, that shall at least avoid the dogmatic cer-
tainties of the older theology. Thus the section on God
includes the Maker, the Living and Indwelling God, and
the Holy Spirit; "The Lord Jesus Christ," a second section.
There is no doubt a diminution, but no apparent avoidance,
of the hymns that contemplate Christ as working out the
atonement for sin.
4. A non-ecclesiastical tone. In emphasis and feeling
the Kingdom takes the place the Church held in Anglican
and even Evangelical books. As against any trend toward
sacramentalism involved in the Liturgical Movement, The
Pilgrim Hymnal marks a reaction. Perhaps in no modern
church hymnal outside of Unitarianism is the sacramental
tone so low as in its meagre provision for the Communion.
Liturgically also there is no advance. The Christian Year is
ignored. Such liturgical suggestiveness as the book presents
is mainly in the appended materials ; and, even so, from the
Psalter as it was arranged either for chanting or responsive
reading in Hymns of the Faith (1887) to these miscel-
laneous responsive Scripture Readings arranged by "topics"
there is a long descent from liturgical propriety.
"Hartford Seminary Record, Nov. 1904, p. 64.
582 THE ENGLISH HYMN
5. A modified conception of the Christian life, with the
emphasis on activity as against inward experience. In the
section on "The Christian Life" "Following Christ" takes
the place of "Repentance" and "Faith" in the evangelical
books. There is a large disuse of the Evangelical Hym-
nody, notably of the XVIIIth century, in favor of newer
hymns representing more liberal conceptions of Christianity.
Of its 547 hymns 115 are ascribed to Unitarians. ^^ Samuel
Longfellow has 20 as against 13 of Watts: Hosmer has 12
as against 11 of Charles Wesley or 4 of John Newton.
6. A new sense of the inherent importance of the present
life, with an avoidance of the hymns that emphasize its
probationary relations to the future life. There is less no
doubt of the other world than in most evangelical books,
but an enlarged area of the earthly life is brought within
the motives that inspire' Christian song.
7. We come novk^ to the most characteristic and novel
feature of the new Hymnody, as embodied in The Pilgrim
Hymnal, — its pronounced hiimanitarianism. Coordinate
with its emphasis on God in every-day life, on the Kingdom
as against the earlier emphasis upon the Church, on practical
effort as against inward experience, on the present life as
our appointed sphere of operation, comes its insistent call
not for mere adoration or contemplation, still less for intro-
spection, but for service of a broad humanitarian type as
against technical "church-work." The old conception of a
banded brotherhood pursuing a narrow way to heaven
widens into a human brotherhood with a living Christ at
its head, and of all who serve their fellows as of his com-
pany. And we thus have a new Hymnody of Social
Service. It is so far at one with the songs of "Ethical
Culture" that Felix Adler's "Sing we of the Golden City,
"In view of past controversy in New England, this proportion
inevitably attracted notice. It was explained by Dr. Gladden as due to
the fact that the largest number of the best hymns within the past
twenty-five years have been written by Unitarians {The Congrcgation-
alist for July 30, 1904, p. 147). It may be added that among the 115
are a considerable number in wide acceptance.
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 583
Pictured in the legends old," ^^ becomes a church hymn;
and with the evolutionary anticipations of a new humanity
as to adopt John Addington Symonds' "These things shall
be, — a loftier race." ^^ In the amelioration of social con-
ditions it sees fulfilled the prophesied coming of Christ : and
hence in The Pilgrim Hymnal there is an entire omission of
the department of the Second Advent of Christ and the
Last Judgment.
It has thus perhaps become evident that The Pilgrim
Hymnal embodies a Hymnody in several respects new,
whose doctrinal contents and leanings do not, by intention,
conform at all points with the earlier Evangelical Hymnody.
The doubtless disappointing reception of the book proved
indeed that its changes went considerably beyond the bounds
of any general demand in American Congregationalism.
It never won the status of a denominational hymnal to
which its publication by the Pilgrim Press presumptively
entitled it, but continued to represent the considerable group
of ministers and churches which had cooperated in its
production. Among more recent Congregationalist hymnals
Hymns of the Church nezv and old ( New York : Barnes,
1912), edited by W. V. W. Davis and Raymond Calkins,
and Songs of the Christian Life (New York: Merrill,
1913), edited by Charles H. Richards, may perhaps be
regarded as applying the retort courteous to The Pilgrim
Hymnal. After some years' use The Pilgrim Hymnal was
revised and reissued under its original title in 1913. The
new edition omits some hymns of the New England theistic
school, provides some more suitable hymns for the Com-
munion, and restores some standard hymns.
But the larger significance of the new edition is in the
particular lines of its enrichment, answering the latest de-
mands of the churches and made possible by the latest hymn
writing: — "to respond to the yearning of the life and faith
of to-day for more hymns to express communion with God
^^The Pilgrim Hymnal, No. 401.
"Ibid.. No. 403.
584 THE ENGLISH HYMN
in his nearness and living presence, fellowship with Christ,
enthusiasm for humanity, the passion for service, and conse-
cration to the Kingdom of God on earth." ^^ On these
lines The Pilgrim Hymnal of 191 3 was quite as much a
follower as a leader; for they indicate the definite lines on
which the revision and enrichment of Church Hymnody is
just now proceeding in, one may say, all denominations.
It was, for instance, with an eye on the market that the
publishing house which had chosen the high-sounding name
oi In Excclsis for its recent hymnal, called its new one
Hymns of Worship and Service ( New York : The Century
Co., 1905). It was from one of the best ordered parishes
of the Presbyterian Church, once widely served by Dr.
Robinson's Hymns of the Church and Songs for the Sanc-
tuary, that proceeded Dr. Coffin's Hymns of the Kingdom
of God (New York: Barnes, 19 10). Indeed the passage
quoted from The Pilgrim Hymnal of 19 13 might almost
have been taken from the preface of the revised hymnal
of that still conservative denomination, — The Hymnal pub-
lished in iSp^ and revised in ipii by authority of the
General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in tJic
United States of America (Philadelphia: Presbn. Bd. of
Publn., 1 911); which announces a purpose "to bring the
book abreast of the latest developments of hymnody, and
of the present state of Christian thought and feeling; espe-
cially to meet the demand for the recognition of God's
nearness to every-day living, the coming of the Kingdom
in the sphere of common life, the spirit of brotherhood and
of manly and resolute Christian life and service, social
betterment, and evangelistic work."
VI
THE HYMNODY OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
One remembers indeed that Congregational Song was
itself the sign and expression of a new democracy of reli-
'Treface, p. [iii].
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 585
gion, when the Reformation took Church Song out of the
hands of the hierarchy and put it into the hands of the
people. And he begins to perceive that the influence so
powerfully operative in Congregational Song to-day is not
so much a new theology rewriting church symbols of doc-
trine as a growth in the spirit of social democracy deeply
affecting the working faith of the plain people who do the
singing if they do not make the symbols. We perceive its
revolutionary side in the songs of voluntary societies for
ethical culture that replace the church and ignore the super-
natural; its still militant side in "the hymns of the liberal
faith" that herald a religion freed from all authority and
yet calling itself Christian : and we perceive the shadow
which that militancy casts even on evangelical churches in
their hesitancy to sing any longer hymns of humble adora-
tion to the enthroned and omnipotent Jehovah of the Psalms.
But we perceive also the pacific side of the democratic
spirit in new hymns that sing of God's concern for common
life and common people, songs of brotherhood and social
redemption, and of the homely coming of that Kingdom,
which no doubt we shall soon be trained to regard as "The
republic of God."
This infusion of the democratic spirit into Congregational
Song appears to be the special contribution of the XXth
century to English Hymnody. The old hymn, "When I can
read my Title clear," represents the old Evangelical Hym-
nody (no doubt at its extreme) in its individualism, its
otherworldliness, its introspection. The new hymn, "Where
cross the crowded ways of life," represents the new "Hym-
nody of Social Service" in its socialism, its this-worldliness,
its concern for those who are not in church. It is true that
social service is not a novelty in church ideals, and that
older hymns of social service were not wanting. "Charity
hymns" were among the earliest sung in the Church of
England. The anti-slavery agitation, the temperance move-
ment, the peace movement, and others, all produced church
hymns. But it is substantially true that "this propaganda of
586 THE ENGLISH HYMN
beneficence, this constant attention to the moral and physical
improvement of persons who have been neglected, is quite
recent as a leading feature of religion." -^ And how recent
the Hymnody of Social Service is in any practicable sense
is best known to him who has searched XVI Hth and XlXth
century hymn books for examples. It is only now in the
making and as existent is in a state undeniably crude.
We see it in the making, as it were, in the "Social Hymn
Number" (January 3, 1914) of The Survey, the organ of
allied social workers. Here, after elaborate preparations,
with a hymn-editor and twelve referees representing most
types of religion and ethics, were gathered "One hundred
hymns of brotherhood and social aspiration." The first
object was to find "hymns that could be sung by all people
in all places, whether in churches, in halls, in schools, in the
open" : "which Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic
might sing with equal fervor." On this account partly, and
also to avoid gloominess, "no hymns of atonement, sin and
sacrifice" were included. Professor Simon N. Patten, in
his paper on hymn writing, would go farther, and avoid in
the new Hymnody the very imagery and "expressions of
war, depravity, and woe, upon which the emotional value
of earlier hymns depends" and aim at "the socialization of
language itself." ""'
The Survey hymns have since been reprinted as Social
Hymns of Brotherhood and Aspiration. Collected by
Mabel Hay Barrows Mussey. New York: the A. S. Barnes
Co., 1914, in a form at once suggesting the evangelistic
song book, but with a gospel in marked contrast with that of
evangelism. It deals not with the individual but with
humanity in the mass, not with spiritual experience but
with "social living," not with the salvation of the soul, but
with the uplift of society. The hymns are grouped under
the categories of "Aspiration and Faith," "Liberty and
Justice," ';Peace," "Labor and Conflict," "Brotherhood,"
^* [Edmund Gosse] Father and Son, New York, 1907, p. 334.
-'Ibid., p. 408.
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 587
and "Patriotism." They include a number already in church
use, notably the newer hymns of the Kingdom, but of the
Church as an appointed agent of social regeneration there
is no recognition, and apart from the aspiration for a "new
city" on earth, no vision of the life beyond.
In the new Social Hymnody as here presented one feels
that there is not necessarily any antagonism to the Christian
Church or to Christian Doctrine, but rather a sense of their
irrelevancy in view of an absorbing aim in whose promotion
it is necessary to find common ground on which men of
good will may meet to labor and to sing. And this feature
of the Social Hymnody is no doubt worthy of keeping in
mind by the Church itself which is now so obviously en-
gaged in revising her own Hymnody in the light of the new
ideals of social democracy.
It has already been suggested that the XXth century
Church is deeply moved by the spirit of the new philan-
thropy and even disposed to modify her ideals in accord
with the new humanitarianism. She is inclined for the
present at least in the interests of "service" to subordinate
that concern for spiritual experience and for eternal life
which entered into the warp and woof of the Evangelical
Hymnody, and even that spirit of adoration which is the
heart of the Liturgical Hymnody. The significance of such
a title as that of the recent Hymns of Worship and Service
is in its definite proposal of praise and service as the two
coordinate themes of Church Song. More striking still is
the pamphlet of hymns and prayers of a social bearing,
issued by the Social Service Commission of the Episcopal
diocese of Massachusetts, in its recognition of social service
as the particular form of service to which the Church is at
present called and its determination to relate the social
service movement to the Church's devotional life. And now
from another source comes the suggestion, not that the
Church should make its own Social Hymnody but that The
Survey s collection of Social Hymns of Brotherhood and
Aspiration "might well be in the pews of any church whose
588 THE ENGLISH HYMN
people believe in the social gospel, as a supplementary hymn
book." 28
The situation is thus obviously one in which the best
interests of Church Hymnody demand some consideration.
There will be few indeed to deplore the Church's new con-
cern for social life. And if any is disposed to maintain that
the Church Hymn is not the proper vehicle of the new
emotions and aspirations his thesis must be regarded as
merely academic. The ideal of the Hymn, which Augustine
once defined acceptably to the Church as "Praise of God in
song," 2^ has been strained and even stretched, with the
progress of Christian centuries, to cover many religious
activities other than praise. Doubtless it can be further
stretched to cover the special activities of the new social
awakening. It is rather the perpetual surprise of our his-
toric Hymnody that it should have proceeded so far with
so little sense of human fellowship, so little concern for the
inequalities and burdens of the society in which the Church
was set. So devout and mystical a soul as George Matheson,
author of one of the most cherished hymns of a deep in-
ward experience,^^ has expressed a thought common to
many in saying of our hymns generally : —
"To my mind they have one great defect; they lack humanitarian-
ism. There is any amount of doctrine in the Trinity, Baptism, Atone-
ment, or the Christian life as such, but what of the secular life — the
infirmary, the hospital, the home of refuge? ... I don't think our
hymns will ever be what they ought to be, until we get them inspired
by a sense of the enthusiasm of, and for, humanity. It is rather a
theological point, perhaps, but the hymnists speak of the surrender to
Christ. They forget that Christ is not simply an individual. He is
Head of a body, the body of humanity; and it no longer expresses the
idea correctly to join yourself to Christ only, you must give yourself
to the whole brotherhood of man to fulfil the idea." ^'
And now that the need thus disclosed is in the way of
^^The Christian Work and Evangelist for July i8, 1914.
"Ennar. in Ps. cxliii.
^" "O Love that wilt not let me go."
"D. Macmillan, The Life of George Matheson, New York, 1907,
p. 185.
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY 589
being provided for, there would seem to be two features of
the situation worthy of attention by those concerned for
the best interests of Church Hymnody.
First: The Church should make her own "supplementary
hymn book." The "theological point" made by Dr. Mathe-
son may or may not define accurately the ground of the
Church's participation in the social awakening. The real
point is that the Church believes in her own call to lend a
hand, finds her own motives in Christ, and has her own
social gospel. She remembers also that those who are
bringing about "social living" are well on the way to indi-
vidual dying, and that the hope of heaven is an encourage-
ment while making progress toward the happier world we
shall not live to see. The Church should not be expected to
renounce these great inspirations while joining hands with
all who would do good. And at a time when very many
regard a Social Hymnody ignoring the Church and Chris-
tian doctrine as prophetic, it becomes the Church to embody
her ow^n faith in social songs.
Second: Even granting that "worship and service" are to
be the two coordinate themes of XXth century Church
Hymnody, it need not follow that the element of praise is
to lose its primacy. It should rather follow that the note of
praise shall pervade the Hymnody of Service. If the re-
lations of God and man are what the Church has hitherto
believed them to be, she must continue to stand on her old
foundation as fundamentally a worshipping Church, with
her activities conditioned by her devotional life.
In every vital movement we may expect and allow for a
certain exaggeration and loss of the sense of proportion.
The Evangelical Revival overemphasized the Hymn of
Experience and even encouraged a Hymnody of egotism.
Evangelistic fervor has in many times and places cast a
shadow of unreality and aloofness over the sober Church
Hymnody, and temporarily supplanted the church hymnal
by the revival song book. And something of the kind may
be anticipated in connection with the social awakening.
590 THE ENGLISH HYMN
We shall soon perhaps have Hymns of Service and Worship,
with a change only in the order of precedence ("To do Thy
will is more than praise") ; then Hymns of Service ("Thy
sacramental liturgies the joy of doing good") ; and then
Hymns of Social Service as the Church's hymn book ("To
worship rightly is to love each other").
In all these successive movements of religious life, in the
social awakening as much as in the Evangelical Revival, and
through all these varying phases of Church Song, we may
contentedl}^ read the unfolding purpose of that Sovereign
Love which broods over church and world. And we can
perceive that a change of emphasis as regards phases of
truth contributes to the fulfilment of that purpose. One
might even encourage the XXth century Church to sing
those things it believes most vividly and feels most deeply,
confident that in any case the permanent foundation of
Church Song ("Praise God from whom all blessings flow")
is unshaken.
INDEX
Abbott, Lyman, 473, 489, 558
Abingdon Presbytery, 189
Abridgment of Dr. Watts's Psalms and
Hymns, 133
Abridgment of Mr. Baxter's History, 83
Accompanying harmonies to Hymnal noted,
521
Actes of the Apostles (Tye), 55
Acts and Proceedings (Gen. Synod, Ref.
Dutch), 403, 404, 40s, 40'j, 407, 408
(Engl. Presbyn. Synod), 525, 526
Acts of General .Assembly (Ch. of Scot.), 57.
59, 148
Adam of St. Victor, 502
Adams, F. A., 388
Adams, John, 184
Adams, J. G., 4S1, 482
Adams, John Quincy, 462, 482
Adams, Sarah P. 450
Adamson, John, 57
Addison, Joseph, 210, 211.
Additional Hymn Book (Ryle), 519
Additional Hymns (Lutheran, 1S34), 414
(Refd. Dutch) 1831, 405; 1847, 406
(Tyng), 401
Additional Psalmody, 159
Additional Selection (Andrews), 401
Address at 200th Anniversary, ist Bapt. Ch.,
Boston, 204
Advent Christians, 430
Advent Harp. 429
Adventists, 1843-1887, 428
Advice to a young clergyman, 222
Adgate, Andrew, 192, 193
Adler. FeYix, 582
African Meth. Episc. Church, 306
African Meth. Episc. Zion Church, 307
African Methodist Hymn and Tune Book,
307
Age to come Adventists, 431
Ainger, A. C, 569
Ainsworth, Henry, loi
Aitken, W. M. H., 520
Albright, Jacob, 314
Albright, M. C, 577
Alderson, Eliza S., 516 1
Alexander, Archibald, 38 1, 382
Ale.xander, Cecil P., 516, 531
Alexander, W. Lindsay, 157, 459
Alford, Henry, 513, 518
Alger, William R., 468
Alison, Prancis, 188
Allen, James, 323, 325, 326
Alline, Henry, 366, 367
Allison, Burgis, 200
AUon, Henry, 456, 459, 508, 522, 525
Altar, the (Williams), 514
Altar Hymnal, 514, 529
Alteration of Hymns, see Hymn "Tinker-
ing"
Ambrosian hymns, 39, 205, 498
American Bibliography (Evans), 162, 199,
271. 338, 359
American Christian Missionary Society,
371
American Church History series, 327, 410,
421, 424
American Journal of Education, 378
.\merican Millenial Association, 429, 430
.American Presbyterianism (Briggs), 179
American Revi.nons of Watts' Psalms, 166,
194
A merican Theological Review, 476
Amis, Lewis R., 312
Amsterdam, loi
Ancient Hymns of Holy Church, 543
Anderson, C, 146
Anderson, J. S., 146
Andover Seminary, 475, 476
Andrews, C. W., 401
Anglican Hymn Book, 513
Anglican hymns and church music, see
England, Church of
Anglican Hymnology, 25
Anglo-Catholic ideal, see Hymnal
Annals of English Presbytery, 130
Annali of Low-church Party, 506
Annals of Scottish Printing, 33
Annals of Unitarian Pulpit, 177
Annotations on the Hymnal (Hutchins), 546
Annual Report, .Am. Hist. .Assn., 326
Annus Sanclus, 44
Anstice, Joseph, 515
Anthems, 43, 183, 243, 523
Anti-Burghers, 154
Anti-effort Baptists, 203
Antrim, Jacob, 31a
Anxious bench, 293
.Anthologia Davidica, 445
Apology (Barclay), 95
Apology for Printers, 162
Apostles' Creed, 27, 29, 30, 34, 77
Appel, Theo., 548
Appendix (Boston), 173
(Cecil), 352
(Venn), 352
Appendix from the Olney Hymns, 201
Appendix to Hymns ancient and modern,
510, 516, 520
Appendix to Hymnal Companion (Bell), 520
Appendix to Tate and Brady (Boston), 173
Appendix to Walker's Psahns and Hymns,
S20
Apple-tree hymn, 202
Arber, Edward, 92
Archibald, Robert, 189
Arian movement in England, 130; in New
England, 172
Arminian Theology: Wesleyan, 232, 358;
General Baptist, 91; American Bap-
tist, 198, 362
Arminian Magazine, 235, 236
Arnold, John, 346
Arnold, Matthew, 446
Arnold, Thomas, 445
Amot, David, 532
Amot, William, 526
Arrangement of Watts with Selection, 204
Art of Singing (Law), 193
Asbury, Francis, 281, 283, 289
Ash and Evans' Collection, 144, 259
Aspland, Ro'oert, 135
Asplund, John, 200
Associate Presbytery: N. Y., 180; N. C,
190
At the interment of John Quincy Adams, 462
Athanasian Creed, 28, 36
Athenaeum, 318, 569
Athenian Oracle, 221
Auber, Harriet, 444
Augsburg, 560
591
592
INDEX
Augustine on the Hymn, s83
Austin, John, 69, 76, 77, 79, 206, 224
Authors and Friends (Fields), 470
Ayres, Anne, 398, 399
B
Babcock, Rufus Jr., 363
Bacon, Leonard, 375
Bacon, Leonard W., 477i 5S6
Badger, J., 480
Bailey, John, 146
Bailey, Wesley, 30S
liaillie, Robert, Letters and Journals of, 102
Baird, A. J., SS6
Baker, Sir H. W., 509, SiS
Bakewell, John, 254
Balleine, G. R., 329. 344. 3S0, SI9
Ballou, Adin, 425
Ballou, Hosea, 424, 425
Ballou, Silas, 423
Bangs, Nathan, 291
Baptismal hymns, 87, 100, 198, 199. 362,
400
Baptist Confessions of Faith (McGlothlin),
197
Baptist Church Hymnal, 452, 523
Baptist Harp, 365
Baptist Hymn [and Tune] Book, 558, S59
Baptist Hymn Book, 363
Baptist Hymn writers and their Hymns, 143,
145, 200, 202
Baptist Hymnal (General Bap.). 452
(Phila.), 559
Baptist Praise Book, 559
Baptist Psalmody, 365
Baptist Register, 200
Baptisterion, P'r ladelphia, hymn used at,
198
Baptistery, the (Williams), 514
Baptist's Hymn Book, 146
Baptists: England:
General: 1606-1733. their prejudice
against singing, 91
1770-1851, hymn books, 142, 452
1879-191S, the modern period, 452
Particular: 1673-1675. Keach introduces
hymns, 96
1675-1692, Controversie of singing, 98
1690-1722, Stennett's hymn used, 100
1720-1769, Era of Watts, 143
1760-1844, homiletical Hymnody, 144
1809-1837, high Calvinist books, 14s,
146
1734-1792, Baptist hymn writing, 213
1858-1915, the modern period, 452
United States: 17 16, Welsh Baptists
adopt Singing, 197
1728-177 1, gradual introduction of
singing in New England, 196
1741-1770, spreading use of Watts,
198
1766-1831, Baptist Supplements to
Watts, 198-201
1784-1843, "Spiritual Songs," 201-203
1818-1827, Efforts at improvement,
204
1766-1849, the Evangelical Hymnody,
361-36S , . ,
1850-1915, mamtammg a homiletical
Hymnody, 558
Baptist hymn writers, 365
Baptists and camp meetings, 297
Anti-effort Baptists, 203
Scotland: Early Baptist hymn singing,
157
Barbauld, Anna L., 133. I37, T40, 216
Barbauld, Anna L., Memoir of, 137
Barclay, John, 158, 159
Barclay, Robert (.Apology), 95
Barclay, Robert (Inner Life of the Religious
Societies), 92, 94, 95, 96
Baring-Gould, Sabine, 516
Barker, Charles C, 430
Barker, John, 131
Barlow, Joel, 167, 187, 193, 194, I95
Barnard, Chas. P., 461
Bamby, Sir Joseph, 514. 537. 556
Barrett, George S., 459
Barrowe, H., 102
Bartol, C^yrus A., 464, 467, 468
Barton, Bernard, 436
Barton Hymns, 142, 143
Barton, William, 60, 61, 62, 63, 71, 80, 82,
84, 85, 88, 93. 105. 113
Bassandyne, Thomas, 33
Bassett, A. H., 308, 309
Batterson, H. G., 546
Batty, Christopher, 325, 326
Baudie Song, 33
Bay Psalm Book, 47, 66, 104, 163, 164, 165,
196, 197: Prince's revision, 165, 166
Baxter, M., 279
Baxter, Richard, 53, 70, 71, 82-85, 88, 105,
206
Beard, John R., 139
Bayley, D., 173
Beauties of Dr. Watts, 323
Beddome, Benjamin, 215
Bedell, E. A., 550, 551, 580
Beecher, Charles, 389, 474
Beecher, Henry Ward, 268, 473-476, 477,
544
Beecher, Henry Ward (L. Abbott), 473
Beecher, Henry Ward, Biography of, 473, 474
Beecher, Lyman, 389
Beecher, W. C, 474
Belknap, Jeremy, 172, 174, 175, 396, 397
Bell, Charles D., 520
Beman, N. S. S., 384. 385
Benedicite. 28, 36, 77, 81
Benedict, David, 203, 366, 422
Benedictus, 28, 77
Benham, D., 263
Benjamin, Jonathan, 373
Bennett, H. L., 43
Benson, Archbishop, 44s, 517
Benson, Arthur C, 569
Benson, L. P., 114, 116, 118, 132, 166, 194,
212, 365
Benson, R. M., 516
Bentivoglio and Urania, 78
Bentley, William, 170, 174
Bentley, William, Diary of , 170, 174
Bereans, 158
Berg, J. P., 410
Bergen, Classis of, 407
Berridge, John, 320, 329, 330, 331, 336
Bethune, Geo. W., 385, 407
Bever, Joseph, 313
Beveridge, William, 49, 340
Bible in English, 39, 40; and see Scripture
Bible Christians, 279
Bible Psalter, 528
Biblical Repertory, 377
Bibliography of Shaker Literature, 428
Bibliotheca Sacra, 475, 576
Bickersteth, Edward, 506
Bickersteth, Edward H., 448, 506, 518, 519
Biddulph, Thomas T., 352
Biggs, L. C, 546
Billings, William, 169, 170, 192
Binney, Thomas, 45s
Bird, Frederic M., 253, 386, 387, 412, 413,
414, 417, 418, 458, 560
Birkbeck, W. J., 569
Birmingham, New Meeting, 134; Old, 134
Bisley, 499
Black, John, 187
Blackwood's Magazine, 532
INDEX
593
Blair, Hugh, 153, 194
Blair, Samuel, 186, 192
Blew,,William J., 508, SIS
Bliss, P. P., 48s, 486, 487
Blomfield, Dorothy, 517
Blow, Dr., 79
Boaden, Edward, 255
Boardman, H. A., 544
Bode, J. E.. S17
Bohemian Brethren, 21, 262
Bohler, Peter, 227, 263
Boker, George H., 309
BoUes, E. C, 482
Bonar, Horatius, 35, 430, 476, 526, 538
Bonar, James, 537
Bonnie Doon, 310
Book of Common Order, 35
Book of Common Praise (Canada), 512
Book of Common Praise: annotated Edition
(Jas. Edm. Jones), 512
Book of Common Prayer:
IS49. 40, 41. 351
IS52, 30, 40, 41
1662, 44, 82, 83
1786 (U. S.), 390. 391
1790 (U. S.), 395, 396
Rescensions of: Clarke's, 133; Wesley's,
see Sunday Service; Baxter's, 82, 84;
King's Chapel, 466; Proposed Book,
390, 391
Book of Common Song (Murphy), 540
Book of Hymns (Longfellow and Johnson),
463, 466
Book of Hymns and Tunes (Longfellow), 471
Book of Mormon, 431
Book of Poems (Chadwick), 472
Book of Praise (Palmer), 69, 446, 457
Book of Praise for Children, 457
Book of Prayer for the Church and Home,
482
Book of Psalms Englished (Ainsworth), loi
Book of Psalms in metre (Barton), 60, 61
Book of Worship (1867), 561; (1871), 561
(New Church), 563
Booke of the Universall Kirk, 33
Booth, William, 485
Borthwick, Jane, 507, 539
Boston: Arianism, 174
Baldwin Place, 198
Baptist churches, 199
Billings' Lamentation over, 169
Brattle Street, 165, 172, 173, 175
Bulfinch Street, 424
Church of the" Disciples, 462, 470
First Baptist Church, 204
First Parish, 171, 471
Hollis Street, 173
King's Chapel, 175, 461, 466, 472
Memorial History of, 165, 174
Music Hall (T. Parker), 464
Old South, i6s, 166
Presbytery of, 180
Transcript, 462
Trinity, 214, 396
West Church, 173, 174, 177
Boston Collection of sacred and devotional
Hymns, 199
Bourne, Hugh, 275, 276, 277
Bourne, W. St. H., SI7
Bowring, John, 139, 141, 436
Boyd, A. K. H., 532, 534
Boyd, Zachary, 56, 57, 58, 60
Boyse, Joseph, 87, 88, 100, lOS
Brace, Seth C. 385
Bradbury, Thomas, 126
Bradbury, William B., 310, 428, 479, 484
Bradford, William, 359
Brady, Nicholas, 48: see New Version
Brailsford, E. J., 255
Brattle Square Collection, 173, 175
Brattle Street Church, Boston, 165, 173,
173, 175
Brattle, Thomas, 173
Bray, Mr., 229
Breach repaired, 98
Breckell, John, 140
Brethren, the, 199, 367
Brethren's Hymn arid Tune Book, 368
Brethren's Hymnal, 368
Brethren's Hymnody, 368
Breton, Sir Nicholas, 64
Brettell, Jacob, 140
Breviary: Roman, 23, 24, 37, 40, 43, 44,
70, 404, 495, 496, 498, 499, SCO, SOI
Quignon's, 40, 41, 70
Sarum, 39, 503, 5 14. 570
Paris, 495, 496, 499, SOI
Breviary, Hymns of: see Office Hymns
Brevint, Dr., 224, 234
Brewster, C. W., 166
Bridges, Robert, 448, 568
Brief Discourse concerning Singing, 98
Brief List of Hymn Books (Higham), 106
Briggs, Charles A., 179
Briggs, George W., 463, 470
Bright, William, S16
Brinley Catalogue, 202
Bristol, 96, 97, 99, 227, 22S
British Banner, 455
British Magazine, 495, 496, 314. 5i8
British Weekly, 278
Britannica (Encyc), vii
Broadmead Records, 96, 97, 99
Broadus, Andrew, 203
Brooke, W. T., 44, 344
Brooklyn: New Chapel, 471; Plymouth
Church, 473; rink, 487; St. Ann's, 398
Brooks, Charles T., 468
Brooks, Phillips, 568
Brotherhood, 582, 584, 586
Brown, W. C, 300
Browne, Simon, 62, los. 212
Browne, Sir Thomas, 70
Browning of Rothwell, 104
Browning, Robert, 450
Brownlie, John, 505
Bruce, Alexander B., 537
Bruce, Michael, 151
Bruce, William, S37
Brunson, Alfred, 297
Bryant, W. C, 177. 468
Brydges, M., 518
Buck, W. C, 363
Buckden, 354
Buckham, J. W., 471
BuckoU, Henry J., 507
Buist, CJeorge, 194
Bulfinch, S. G., 468
Bull, Josiah, 337
Bullen, A. H., 6S
Bullock, J. F. W., 570
Bumpus, J. S., 508
Bunting, W. M., 25s
Bunyan, John, 98
Burder, (jeorge, 127
Burgess, Daniel, 88
Burgess, George, 54s
Burgess, William P., 246, 250, 259
Burleigh, William H., 468
Bumham, Richard, 200, 215
Bumap, U. C, S50
Bums, James D., 538
Burrage, H. S., 143. 145, 200, 202
Burt, N. C, 477
Bury, Samuel, 88, 89, lOS
Butcher, E., 140
Butts, Thomas, 240
Bye paths in Baptist History (Goadby), 93.
94, 98
Byfield, 166
594
INDEX
Byles, Mather, 173
Byron, Lord, 435, 436, 438, 4SI
Cadogan, W. B.. 350
Calamy, E., 83, 84, 130
Calkins, R., 583
Calm Enqziiry (Tomkins), 131
Calvin, John: his part in Church Song, 21,
22, 23, 26, 27, 220; his Psalter, 27, 55;
his iniSuence in the Prayer Book, 42
Calvinism: and Cranmer, 42
of Watts, 209, 574; Whitefield, 358;
Methodist Controversy and division, 232,
31S. 322, 323, 324. 329, 333; Mote's,
147; Burnham's, 200; Maxfield's, 322;
Toplady's, 323, 333. 336; Early Evan-
gelicals', 336; high Calvinistic Bap-
tists', 146; in the modem church, 575
Calvinistic Methodism in Wales, 232, 324_
Calvinistic Reformation, Psalmody of, vii,
22, 109
Cambridge History of English Literature, 20,
121
Cambridge Press Psalters, 347
Camp Meeting: its origin, 291; develop-
ment of songs, 291; song books, 294;
the new type of Hymn, 293, 311; in
England, 275, 277; the General camp
meeting, 297; decline of, 298
Camp Meeting Chorister, 296
Camp Meeting Methodists, 277, 311
Campbell, Alexander, 370, 371, 372
Campbell, Alexa7ider, Memoirs of (Richard-
son), 371
Campbell, E)uncan, 126
Campbell, John, 453, 455
Campbell, Thomas, 438
Campbellite Baptists, 370
Campion, Thomas, 65
Campion, Thomas: songs and masques (Bul-
len), 65
Canada: Church of England in, 512
Methodists, 280
Presbyterian Church in, 541, 543
Canterbury tune, 76
Canterbury cathedral, 518
Canticles, the Prayer Book: in metre, 28-
31, SS, 56. 84; in prose, use of in dis-
sent, 523, 528; by Puritans, 31, 55, 56,
84
Capito, Wolfgang, 31
Cappe, N., 134
Cardwell, E., 82, 83
Carlisle, Penna., First Presbytn. Church,
191
Carlyle, Alexander, 153
Carlyle, Joseph D., 353. 435
Carmina Christo, 323
Car Has AngUcana, 343
Carols, 19, 20
Carpenter, Benjamin, 133
Carpenter, Lant, 135, 137, 138, 140
Carus, William, 352
Cary, Phoebe and Alice, 482
Caryl, Joseph, 103
Casander, George, 496
Cases of conscience, 102, 161
Cases of conscience about singing of Psalms,
161
Caswall, Edward, 501, 518, S44, 552
Catalogue of Charles Higham and Son, 346
Catalogue of Slinnecke Maryland Episcopal
Library, 287
Catechisms of the Second Reformation, 35
Cathedral, the (Williams), 514
Catholic Elements in Prayer Book, 493
ideal in Hymnody, 501, 504, 511, 513,
S14
(Roman) use of English hymns, 577
Cawood, John, 353
Cecil, Richard, 349, 350
Cennick, John, 266, 270, 273, 316, 317, 319
Ceyitury of select Hymns (Barton), 61
Century of select Psalms (Patrick), S3. 54
Chadwick, J. W., 472
Chandler, John, 467, 405, 500, 517
Channing, W. E., 468
Chanting, see Canticles, Psalter
Chants and Tunes for Bk. Com. Pr., 401
Chapel Hymn Book, 461
Chapel Hymnal, 555
Chapel Hvmns, 389
Chapin, E. H., 481, 482
Chaprnan, R. C, 507
Charities, London, and Hymnody, 343
Chanty children, 222, 34s
Charity hymns, 344
Charles I, 67; II, 82, 103
Charleston, S. C, 226; Presbytery of, 193
Charlestown, 165
Chatfield, A. W., 505, 5i7
Chaucer, 450
Chauncy, Charles, 164
Chautauqua, 312
Cheere, Abraham, 121
Cheshire Association, 463, 467, 470
Chester tune, 169
Chesterton, G. K., 569
Children's hymns: Watts' predecessors, 121;
Watts', 121; Wesley's, 238; Moravian,
273; London Charities', 344; Hill's,
328; Presbyterian, 383, 537; Reformed
Dutch, 406; Unitarian, 461; Lutheran,
418; Neale's, 505; Mrs. Alexander's,
5 1 6; American Sunday school, 484;
AUon's, 456; New Church, 564; Irish
Presbyterian, 539
Children's Worship, 456
Child's Evening Prayer (Coleridge), 436
China (tune), 170
Choice, the, 203
Choice Collection of Hymns (Phila., 1782),
199
(Moravian), 271
Choice Collection of Hymns and Spiritual
Songs (Phila., 1814), 29s
Choice Collection of Hymns . . . for Baptist
Church in Philadelphia, 199
Choice Collection of Spiritual So}igs (Men-
nonite), 369
Choice Selection of Evangelical Hymns (Wil-
liston), 413, 414
Choice Selection of Hymns (Dunker), 368
Choice Selection of Hymns and Spiritual
Songs (Windsor), 296
Choir, the, 243, 276, 277
Choir Encroachment on Congregational
Song: see Congregational Singing
Choirs: Methodist, 242; Moravian, 273;
Cennick's, 317
Chope, R. R., 51S
Choral Buch (1784), 270
Choral Harmony (Maurice), 520
Chorale Book for England, 507
Clwrus, the, 300
"choruses," 297, 314
Christ in Song, 553
Christian, the, 486
Christian Commission, 483, 484
Christian Commonwealth, 571
Christian Disciple, 176, 468
Christian Endeavor Society, 49 1
Christian Examiner, 141, 460, 462, 465, 467,
481
Christian Harmonist, 204
Christian History, 164
Christian Hymn Book, 371; (1863), 481
Christian Hymnal, 431
(Sewall), 563
INDEX
595
Christian Hymns (Relly), 327. 421. 422, 423
(Cheshire Assoc), 463, 467
(Univ.), 424
Christian Instructor (Pictou), 366
Christian Intelligencer, 406, 550
Christian Lyre, 377. 378, 379, 477
Christian Mission (Booth's), 48s
Christian Observer, 137. 138, i39, 353. 3SS.
37S, 436, 438, S18
Christian Poet, 436
Christian Praise (Thompson), 550
(Richards), 557
Christian Psalmist (Montgomery), 205, 255,
436, 441, 442
(Mason), 388
Christian Psalmody (Bickersteth), 506
Christian Psalter, 461, 471
Christian Remembrancer, 260, 443, 445, 497.
SCO, SOI
Christian Review, 364, 365
Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice, 224
Christian Sacrifice of Praises, 341
Christian Science, 577
Christian Science Hymnal, 577
Christian Songs (Glas), 156, 158, 326
Christian Songster (Bever), 313
Christian Spectator, 373, 378
Christian Teacher and Chronicle, 139
Christian Work and Evangelist, 588
Christian Worship (Osgood), 465
Christian Year, the, in English Hymnody:
Church of England, 39, 68, 69, 70, 80,
229, 251, 351, 442, 493-SOO, 510;
Congregationalist and Baptist, 523,
524; Scotland, 540; American Episco-
pal, 392, 544. 545; Reformed Dutch.
404; Lutheran. 415; German Re-
formed, 549; Presbyterian, 551; Con-
gregational, S57; general, 573, 574
Christian Year (Keble), 436, 493, 5 14, 544
Christianismus primitivus, 92
Christians, 296, 366, 370, 480
Christian's Duty, 200, 367, 368
Christian's Pocket Companion, 202
Chronological Summary: Synod of Penna.
(Luth.), 416
Church Book (Bacon), 556
(Lutheran), 560, 561
Church control of congregational song, 26,
30, 33, 34, 35. 47. 48, 49, 50-59, 81, 03.
180, 183, 188, 354, 355, 356. 380, 396,
402, 40S, 408, 531, 536, 545. 550, 554
Church Harmonies, 482
Church Hymn Book (Blew), 508
(Canada), 512
(Hatfield), 366, 553
(Henkel), 415
Church Hymnal (Batterson), 546
(Cooke and Denton), 509
(Irish), 512
(Hutchins), 546
Church Hymnary (Bedell), 551
(Scottish), 538, 539, 542
Church Hymns (S. P. C. K.), 68, 506, 517;
ed. 1903, 568
(Stretton), 500
Church Hymns and Gospel Songs, 490
Church music, see Congregational Singing
and Organ
Church Music (Bacon), 477
Church of England, see England
Church of England Hymn Book (Thring),
447
Church of Eyigland Hymnal (Bell), 520
Church of England Psalmody, 520
Church of God, 369
Church Poetry (Muhlenberg), 398, 439
Church Praise, 527, 528
Church Psalmist, 384, 38S, 386, 387, 388
Church Psalmody (Mason), ibi, 379, 383
Church Psalter and Hymn Book, 508
Church of Scotland, see Scotland
Church Service Society, 534
Church Song (Stryker), 557
Church Year, see Christian Year
Churches of God in Christ Jesus, 431
Churchman, the, 386, 512, 556, 571
C hurchmanship of Jolin Wesley, 223
Churton, E., 516
City Road Chapel, 236 \
Civil War, (U. S.), 368, 483, 484, 560, 561
CL Psalms of David in English metre, 33
Clapham Sect, 353
Clark, Alexander, 309
Clarke, J. Freeman, 462, 468, 470
Clarke, James Freeman: Autobiography, 470
Clarke, Samuel, 133
Clarke, W. A., 145
Clayton, W., 433
Cleveland, Benjamin, 200
Clichtoveus, 40
Clifton, 44s
Cluster of Spiritual Songs, 203
Coffin, Henry S., 584
Coffin, Joshua, 166
Cohansey, 197
Coke, Thomas, 281, 282, 283, 287
Coleridge, S. T., 43s, 436, 451
Coles, Abraham, 543
Coles, V. S. C, S16
Collection of above 600 Hymns, 128
Collection of Christian Songs and Hymns
(Glasgow), 156
Cclleclion of divine Hymns (1694), 105
Collection of divine Songs (Berridge), 330
Collection of Evangelical Hymns (Strebeck),
412
(Stanford), 200
Cclleclion of Hymn Tunes (Jacob), 328
Collection of Hymns (Burder), 127
(Dana). 544. (Flint), 462
(Lee), 321
(Wesley), 234
Collection of Hymns adapted to public wor-
ship (Ash and Evans), 144, 259
Collection of Hymns and Liturgy (Luth.),
414, 416, 417
Collection of Hymns and Prayers, 419
Collection of Hymns and Psalms (Kippis),
132, 134. 135
Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs
(Glasgow), 156
(Edinburgh), 156
(Sinclair), 157
Collection of Hymns approved by Presbytery
of Charleston, 193
Collection of Hymns chiefly Extracted from
the larger Hymn Book, 269
Collection of Hymns designed as an Appen-
dix (Russell), 128
Collection of Hymns designed as a Supple-
ment (Upton), 146
Collection of Hymns for . . . Bible Chris-
tians, 279
Collection of Hymns for camp ?neetings, 276
Collection of Hymns for children (Hill), 328
Collection of Hymns for the children of God,
264, 26s, 266, 267, 268, 269. 404
Collection of Hymns for Christian Worship,
156
Collection of Hymns for Mulberry Gardens,
323
Collection of Hymns for public and private
use (Beard), 139
Collection of Hymns for public and private
worship (Luth.), 420
Collection of Hymns for public, social and
doyneslic worship (M. E. So.), 299
Collection of Hymns for public worship
Bentley), 174
596
INDEX
Collection of Hymns for social worship
(Madan and Whitefield), 359
Collection of Hymns for .Societies (Ingham),
325
Collection of Hymns for the Tabernacles,
IS7
Collection of Hymns for those that seek (Ing-
ham), 325
Collection of Hymns for Unitarian Chris-
tians, 138
Collection of Hymns for the use of Chris-
tians (Smith), 296
Collection of Hymns for the use of M. E.
Church, 290
Collection of Hymns for the use of the People
called Methodists (1780), 231, 236, 24s,
248, 250, 274, 275, 278, 279. 280, 287.
288, 290, 313
contents, 246, 268; revision, 246; metres,
254; method, 249; compared with
Watts' "System," 246; as manual of
Methodist discipline, 244; J. Wesley
on, 249; Martineau on, 249; its unique-
ness, 250
Collection of Hymns for the use of Protestant
Church of the United Brethren (1789),
270, 412
Collection of Hymns for the use of United
Brethren; (1833), 312; (1849). 3i3
Collection of Hymns for West Society, 174
Collection of Hymns from best authors
(Ewing), 157
Collection of Hymns from various authors
(Spence), 238
Collection of Hymns . . . on general prin-
ciples, etc., 133
Collection of Hymns sung in Countess of
Huntingdon's Chapel: Bristol, 321, 323;
Bath, 321; Sussex, 321, 324
Collection of Hymns with several translations
(Moravian), 263
Collection of pieces and tracts, 176
Collection of private devotions in the practice
of the ancient Church, 44
Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes
(Madan), 330
Collection of Psalms and divine Hymns, 342
Collection of Psalms and Hymns (Emerson),
I7S
(Greenwood), 461, 463
(Kelly), 441
(Simeon), 352
(Wesley, 1737), 226
(Wesley, 1738), 227
(Wesley, 1741). 23S. 263
Collection of Psalms and Hymns chiefly in-
tended for use of the poor (Hill), 327
Collection of Psalms and Hymns extracted,
etc. (De Coursey), 332
(Madan), 329
(Maxfield), 322
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for divine
worship (Pope), 132
(Towgood), 132
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the
Lord's Day, 238, 282
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for public
worship (Freeman), 175
(Lindsey), 133
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the
Sanctuary (Ellis), 463, 464
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for social
and private worship (West Church), 177
(Sewall), 176
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for social
worship (Walker), 134, 13S
Collection of Psalms and Hymns (for Sur-
sey Chapel), 327
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Uni-
versalist Societies (Ballou), 425
Collection of Psalms and Hymns from various
authors (Conyers), 200, 331, 362
(Fawcett), 353
Collection of Psalms and Hymns proper for
Christian worship, 133
Collection of Psalms and Hymns sung in
Countess of Huntingdon's Chapels in
Lincolnshire, 321
Collection of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual
Songs (Dunker), 368
(Mennonite), 369
(Bury), 88, 105
Collection of sacred Hymns (Latter Day
Saints): 431; (Hardy), 431
(Rigdon), 432
Collection of tunes (Wesley), 239
(Lawrence), 90
Collection out of the Book of Psalms (Ro-
maine), 342
Collet, Samuel, 133
Collier, William, 201
Collins, Henry, 515, 518
Collins, Hercules, 98
Collins, Isaac, 421
Collyer, William B., 128
Colman, Benjamin, 162, 173
Columbian musick, 175
Columbian Repository, 172
Commandments versified ,27,28,33, 34, 36, 77
Commercialization of Hymnody, 480, 490,
SSI. 555
Common Ground of Hymnody, 207, 209,
210, 319
Common Praise, 513
Common Service (Lutheran), 561, 562
Communion, hymns at: Church of Eng-
land, 29, 31, 84
Methodist, 251
Presbyterian, 34, 84, 87
Baptist, 97, 100
Independent, 104
Companion to the Altar (Wesley), 234
Complaint of Mary, 19
Complaint of a Sinner, 29, 34
Com Ileal Psalmodisl, 346
Comprehensive Hymn Book (Campbell), 453
Comprehensive Rippon, 144
Concise History of Meth. Prot. Church, 308
Conder, Josiah, 65, 89, 129, 453
Conference Hymns, 365
Conferences connected with revision of Book
of Common Prayer, 82, 83
Confession of Faith adopted by the Baptist
Association, 197
Congregational Church Hymnal, 459, 523
Congregational Churches:
Amsterdam: 1612, Psalmody of the Ex-
iles, 10 1
England: Psalm singing and controversy,
102, 103
1664-1687, singing under persecution,
103
1675-1706, beginning of hymn singing,
104, IDS
1707, Watts' description of Independ-
ent Psalmody, 107
1707-1850, the Era of Watts, 123-127
1720-1836, with "Supplements," 127-
129
1836-191S, the modern period, 453-458
Scotland: 1755-1814, hymn singing, 156,
157
1849-1903, later hymn books, 459, 460
United States: 1620-1740; Early Psalm-
ody; see New England
1 742- 1 79 1, the Great Awakening
brings the Era of Watts, 163-168
1790-1832, the lesser Awakening sup-
plements Watts with Revival Hymn
Books, 372-380
INDEX
597
1836-184S, the Era of "Psalms and
Hymns," 388, 389
1851-1880, the movement for congre-
gational singing, 474-480
1S80-1901, modern Hymnody, 557,
558
1904-1913, Hymnody of the New The-
ology, 580-584
Congregational History (Waddington), 103
Congregational hymn, the, as the symbol of
Protestantism, 20
Congregational Hymn Book (Conder), 65,
129, 453
(Nason), 476
Congregational Hymns (Horder), 457, 458
Congregational Psalmist (Allon), 456, 522
Congregational Psalmist Hymnal, 456, 523
Congregational Quarterly, 476
Congregational Singing:
The expression of religious democracy,
20, 584, 585
Hussite beginnings, 21
Lutheran and Calvinistic types of, 21-24
introduced into England and Scotland,
22, 25-27
Early Enthusiasm, 51
growth of indifference toward, 45
the practice of lining out the Psalm; see
"Lining"
decadence in Church of England, 68, 75
decadence among Nonconformists, 107
movement to better it, 89
the "controversie of singing," 91-103,
107, 161, 196
Watts' influence on congregational song,
124, 207, 216
conditions in early xviiith century, 219;
description of parochial psalmody, 221
the Methodist singing, 239-244, 254; its
influence, 256
Moravian singing, 273
Singing of the Evangelical Revival, 316,
317. 324, 330. 337, 343
efforts to improve parochial psalmody,
343-349
movements (1852) to introduce plam
song into the choirs, 503, 504; and to
better congregational song in church
and dissent, 508, 520
The Anglican hymn tunes give a new life
to congregational song, 521, 522; and
greatly modify dissenting and Scottish
church song, 522, 523, 524, 525, 53s,
537
United States:
Inconceivable conditions of New England
congregational song in early xviiith cen-
tury, 161, 162
the Great Awakening introduces Social
Singing, 164
an American school of church music, 169;
and efforts to improve the singing, 170,
171, 172
the deplorable Presbyterian^ psalmody,
184; and efforts to better it, 184-186,
192, 193
Early Baptist preference for popular
melodies with choruses, 201, 203;
and efforts to chasten it. 204
rude singing of Early Methodists, 284,
285; camp meeting singing, 291-298;
efforts to elevate Methodist singing,
298, 301
revival influences of the early xixth cen-
tury favor the introduction of lighter
music in Congregational and Presby-
terian churches, 375-377: which Hast-
ings and Lowell Mason combat, 377-
380
by the mid-century the singing is all in
the hands of the choir, and the people
sit unconcerned: the PreslDyterians,
386-388; Congregationalists, 388, 389;
Reformed Dutch, 406; Lutherans, 417;
Unitarians, 470
Beecher leads a movement (1851) for
congregational singing, 473, 474; giv-
ing the tunes to the people, 477, 478
the tunes of the Oxford Revival give a
new interest to American church song,
546, 547, SSI, 552, 555, 558, 559, 560
the Gospel Hymn movement affects '
church song from the one side, 482-
492, 567; while choir encroachment
still threatens it from the other, 547
Congregational Song as a church ordinance,
20; with Scriptural authority, 23
Congregational Sunday school and Publish-
ing Society, 580
CongregationaUst, the, 476, 582
Conjoint Singing, 94, 96
Connecticut Association, 166, 167, 194, 374,
375
Connexion Hymn Book with Supplement, 323
Constitution of Reformed Dutch Church, 403,
404
Contents of a folio History of the Moravians,
268
Controversie of Singing, 91-103, 107, 161,
196
Controversie of Singing brought to an End,
98, 99
Controversy on important Theological Ques-
tions, 455
Conventicle Act (1664), 85, 103
Conyers, Richard, 200, 331, 362
Cooke and Denton's Church Hymnal, 509
Cooke, W., 514
Cooper, Ezekicl, 289
Cooper, George, 523
Copeland B., 312
Coronation (tune), 1 70
Coronation Hymnal, 580
Cosin, John, 44, 77, 206
Cotterill, Thomas, 353, 355, 356, 399
Cotton, John, 102
Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion Hymn
Book, 323
Course of Time (Pollok), 436
Courthope, W. J., 25, 115, 253
Courtney, John, 202
Cousin, Anne Ross, 539
Coverdale, Myles, 25, 26, 39
Covcrdale, Myles, Remains of, 26
Cowan and Love's Music of Church Hym-
nary, 542
Cowper, William, v, 337, 338, 339. 340
Cox, Frances E., 507
Cox, L. J., 309
Cox, R.[D.], 31. 33, 34
Cox, Samuel K., 312
Coxe, Arthur C, 545
Crafurd, Thomas. 57
Cranmer, Thomas. 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 495
Cranmer, Miscellaneous Writings and Let-
ters of, 39, 40
Crashaw, Richard, 66, 67. 69. 79, 88
Crawford, G. A., 512
Creamer, David, 231, 245, 289, 291, 308,
333
Creed, Apostles', 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 77
Athanasian, 28, 36
Cromer, John, 196
Crosby, Fanny, 312, 487. 559
Crosby, Thomas, 97, 99
Grossman, Samuel, 68, 69, 206
Croswell. William, 398. 545
Croswell, William, Memoir of, 398
Crucifer, 527
598
INDEX
Cruden, William, 149
Cry of a Reprobate, 232
Cudgell to drive the Devil out. 185
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 297, 298,
SS6
Cumberland Presbyterian Hymnal, 556
Cumberland Presbytery, 297
Cumming, Patrick, 153
Cummings, Charles, 189
Cummins, Bishop, 548
Curtis, John, 436, 451
Cutting, S. S., 36s
Curwen, J. S., 90, 103, 152, 243, 273. 456,
486, 488, 529
Da Pacem, 29, 31
Dabney, J. P., 177
Daggett, Oliver E., 167, 389
Daily Mail, 448
Dale, A. W. W., 457
Dale, Lily, 433
Dale, R. W., 106, 122, 456, 457
Dale. R. W., Life of. 457
Dana, W. C, S44
Daniel, H. A., 502
Daniel, J. J., 516
Darby, J. N., 507
Darling, Henry, 387
Darling, Thomas, 513
Darlington, James H., 547
Darton, F. J. H., 121
David: Psalms of King David translated by
King James, 47; making David an
XVIIIth Century Christian, iii, 112,
120
Davidson, Robert, 188
Davidson, Robert (2nd), 190, 291, 292, 296
Davies, Sir John, 47, 64
Davies, Samuel, 181, 212
Davis, Richard, 104, lOS. 106
Davis, Valentine D., 13s
Davis, W. V. W., 583
Davis, William C, 189
Dayman, E. H., 517
Dc Courcy, R., 332
De Witt, Thomas, 405, 408
Deacon, John, 143
Deacon, Samuel, 142
Dearmer, Percy, 448, 569
Deck, J. G., S07
Defence of the Book of Psalms, 49
Defence of the Holy Scriptures, loi
Demarest, D. D., 404, 406
Democracy of Congregational Song, 20,
584; Hymnody of the new Democracy,
585
Denham's Selection, 147, 33S
Dennis, A. E., 309
Denny, Sir Edward, 507
Devotional Hymns (Hastings), 379
Devotional Melodies, 301
Devotional Pieces, 137
Devotional poetry: early, 19; under Eliza-
beth and James, 64; early xviith cen-
tury, 67; under Charles I, 67; Wcs-
leyan, 220, 24s, 252, 253; Cowper's, v,
337; Romantic, 435, 436; Tractarian,
S14; recent, 568
Devotional poetry: Johnson on, 440
Watts on. 115, 252, 440; Wesley on, 252,
440; Montgomery on, 441; Hcber on,
441
Devotional Verses (Barton), 436
Devotions in the ancient way of Offices, 69,
76, 224
Dexter, Henry M., 91
Dick, Prof., 539. S40
Dickins, John, 287
Dickinson, Edward, 576
Dickson and Edmonds" Annals of Scottish
Printing, 33
Dickson, James. 151
Dictionary of Hymnology (Julian), vii, 20,
21, 43, 44, 66, 70, 135, 151, 156, 278,
321, 326, 342, 353, 445, 500, 517, 520.
527, 571
Dictionary of Music (Grove), 75
Dictionary of National Biography, 75, 89,
223, 456
Didsbury College Library, 227
Differences of the Churches of the Separation,
92
Directions given to the Clergy, 341
Directory for worship (Westminster), 178,
191
(Presbyterian, 1788), 191
Directory of Worship ((ier. Refd.), 549
Disciples' Hymn Book, 462
Disciples of Christ. 370
Discourse in West Church, 174
Discourse occasioned by death of Whitefield,
183
Discourse on Psalmody (Blair), 186, 192
Discourse on singing of Psalms (Gill), 99
Dissuasive from errors of the times, 92
Divine Companion, 78
Divine Dialogues with divine Hymns, 224
Divine Hymns (Rivingtons) , 341
(Smith), 202, 204
Divine Hymns attempted, 328
Divine office; see Breviary, office Hymns
Divine Songs (Watts), 120
Divine Songs, Hymns and other Poems, 213
"Divine Use of Music," 78, 81
Dix, W. Chatterton, 516
Doane, George W., 400, 544
Doane, W. H., 484, 559
Dobell, John, 121, 128
Doctor Watls's Imitation of the Psalms of
David (Barlow), 167, 187, i93.. i94, I9S
Doctrine: doctrinal basis of English Hym-
nody, 574
changing doctrine reflected in it, 575
how such change affects Hymnody, 576
Hymnody of the New Theology, 578
Doctrine and Covenants given to Joseph
Smith. Jr., 431
Dodge, Daniel, 201
Doddridge, Philip, 148, 263. 320, 450; on
Watts, 124. 125; hymns, 211
Doddridge, Philip (Stoughton), 212
Doddridge, Memoirs of Watts and, 132
Doddridge. Philip, Correspondence and Diary
of. 125. 320
Dodsworth, W., 500
Donne, John, 64, 67
Dorricott and (i^ollins. Lyric Studies, 277,
278
Dorrington, T., 88
Dort, Synod of, 403, 405, 408
Dosscy, William, 203
Double Hymn Book. 290
Dover Selection, 203
Dow, H. M., 472
Dow, Lorenzo, 275, 276, 277
Dowling, John, 365
Downing, J., 342, 343
Downton, H., 516
Doxology, 130, 131, 132
Draft Hymnal (Scot., 1896), 54 1
Draper, James, 165
Draught of the Form of Government, 186
"Dream, A," 203
Drcnnan, William. 140
Drummond, J., 450
Drummond, "W. H., 140
Drummond, William, 43, 44, 79, 444
Dryden, John, 44, 227
Drysdale, A. H., 85. 130
INDEX
599
Dubbs, J. H., 408, 409
Dublin Presbyterianism, 87
Duche', Jacob, 344
Duck Creek, 182
Duffield, George, Jr., 308, 474
Duffield, S. W., 38s
Dun, James, 155
Duncan, E., 20
Du>iciad, 221
Dundee, Presbytery of, 148
Dunkers, 199, 367
Dunn, R. P., 557
Dunn, S., 279
Dupuy, Starke, 203
Duryea, J. T., 552
Dutch: Psalters, ss; rule of Psalmody, 402,
40s, 408; Reformed, see Reformed
Dutch
Dutton, Anne, 213
Dutton, W. E., 234
Duty of Christians in singing the praise of
Cod, 187
Dwight, Timothy, 167, 168. 194. 374. 389
Dyer, George, 140
Dyer, Sidney, 365
Dykes, John B., Si7, 520. S21, 527, SSO
Dykes, John Bacchus, Life and Letters of,
520, S2I
Earle, Jabez, 89
Earliest English Music Printing, SS
Early Editions of Watts's Hymns, 116, 118,
132
Early History of Independent Church al
Rothivell, 104 _
Early religious lyrics, 19
Eastburn, J. W., 400
Eastcheap Society and Lectures, 89, lOO,
108, 109, no
Eclectic Review, 43s, 454, 45 S
Ecclesiastical Records: Stale of New York,
402, 403
Ecclesiastical Sonnets, 43s
Ecclesiologist, 502
Ecclesiological Society, 503
Eddis, E. W., 528
Eddowes and Taylor's Selection, 176, I77i
424
Eddy, D. C. 197
Eddy, Richard, 327, 421, 423, 424
Eddy, Zachary, 553
Edinburgh, Greyfriars, 533
Edmeston, James, 436
Edmunds, E., 481
Edward VI, 40, 41, 42, 354; prayer books,
40, 351; chapel, 55
Edward VI and the Book of Common Prayer,
40. 41
Edwards, Jonathan, 163, 164
Edwards, Morgan, 197, 198
Ejaculatory hymns, 292
Ejectment, 85, 107
Ela, D. H., 312
Election, doctrine of, 232, 323
Eliot, S. A., 175
Elizabeth, Queen, 39, 42, 64, 354
Ellerton, John, 250, 516, 517
Ellerlon, John (Housman), 250, 447, 517
Elliott, Charlotte. Si 8. 519
Elliott, H. v., 519: (Mrs., 519)
Ellis, George E., 463, 464
Ellis, Grace A., 137
Ellis, Rufus, 471
Elson, Louis C., 170
Elucidalorium, Ecclesiasticum, 40
Elvev, George, 521
Ely, E. S., 295
Emblems (Quarles), 66
Embury, Philip, 281
Emerson, R. W., 177. 468
Emerson, William, 175, 177
Emory, S. H., 161
Encyclopaedia Melropolitana, 502
Enarrationes in Psalmos (Augustine), 588
Enfield, W., 132, 140, 175
England, Church of:
as Psalm singers, 22, 26
Coverdale episode, 25
1562, English Psalter and its hymns, 27-
32, 36, 43, 55, 56
1538-1559, discards the Latin Church
Hymnody, 37-45
1619-1696, efforts to improve the Psalter,
47-54
1671-1708, movements to mtroduce
hymns, 68-71, 75-8i
1760-1779, Hymns introduced by the
Evangelicals, 328-340
1724-1816, movements for hymn singing
in the main body, 340-349
1785-1819, Era of compromise ("Psalms
and Hymns"), 349-357
1827, the Literary movement, 437-445.
567-569 , ^ .
1833, movement to restore the Latm
Church Hymnody, 493-500
1836-1858, early Tractarian hymnals,
500-506
1861, Hymns ancient and modern, 506-
511, 568
1862-1899, later literary school, 446-449
1870-1891, later Evangelical school, Sii,
512, 518-520
1867-1915, later Tractarian hymnals,
513, 570, 571
the Anglican Hymnody, 514-518
the Anglican Music, 520-522
England, Church of, in Canada, 512
English Cathedral Music (Bumpus), 508
English Hymn Book (Dale), 456
English Hymnal, 64, 448, 49 1. S68, 569.
570, 571
English Hymns; their authors and history
(Duffield). 385
English Lyric (Schelling), v, 253
English Presbyterian Messenger, 525
"Episcopal Collection," 490
Episcopalian prayer meetings, 398
Epistle to a friend, 252
Epworth, 220, 221, 222
Erb, Jacob, 312
Erskine, Ralph, I53. 216
Erskine, Life of (Eraser), I53
Ernst, J. F., 412
Essay on Psalmody (Romaine), 126, 329,
332. 342
Essex Harmony, 173
Ethical Culture Songs, 582, 58S
Ethics of Quotation, 455
Eucharistic Hymnal, 514
Eucharistic Manuals of J. C. Wesley, 234
Euchologion, 534
EvangeHcal Adventists, 429
Evangelical Association, 314
Evangelical Catholic Papers, 398
Evangelical Harp, 365
Evangelical Hymn Book, 314
Evangelical hymn writers, 316, 323, 331.
334. 335. 336, 353. S18
Evangelical Hymnal (Hall), 556
Evangelical Hymnody, the; established,
316, 335; its use diminishing, 458
Evangelical Hymns and Songs (Wallin), 213
Evangelical interpretation of Psalms, 52;
evangelical motive for Hymnody, 52,
112
Evangelical Lutheran Hymn Book, 562
Evangelical Lutheran Ministry of N. Y.,
413
6oo
INDEX
Evangelical Psalmist, 418
Evangelical Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual
Songs, 422
Evangelical Quarterly Review, 412, 417, 418
Evangelical Record, 190
Evangelical Revival, 315; in America,
3S8ff., 397
Evangelical Revival in the Eighteenth Cen-
tury, 315
Evangelical Union, 459
Evangelical Union Hymn Book, 459
Evangelical Union Hymnal, 460
Evangelical Witness, 536
Evangelicals: Church of England, 315,
328flf., SiSff.
Chtirch of Scotland, 153
Evangelistic hymn, the, 247, 4822., 520, 567
Evans' American Bibliography, 162, 199,
271, 338, 359
Evans, J. H., 146
Eventide, 553
Everett, James, 279
Everton, 330; (tune), 527
Ewing and Payne's Collection, 157
Ewing, John. 188
Examiner examined, 164
Excellent use of Psalmody, 341
Experience and Example of the Lord Jesus
Christ, 159
Faber, F. W.. 338. S18
Faith (tune), 527
Family Hymns (Boyse), 87, lOS
(Henry), 86, 87, 89, los
Fanch, James, 213
Farr, E., 66
Farrar, F. W., sn
Faulkner, J. A., see New History of Method-
ism,
Fawcett, John, 215; (of Carlisle), 353
Federal Street (tune), 471
Feet-washing hymns, 367, 368, 369
Fellows. John, 215
Ferris, Isaac, 408
Fetter Lane meeting, 227, 263, 318
Fields, Annie, 470
Fields, J. T., 468
Findlater, Sarah, 507. 539
Finney, Charles G., 376
First Church Collection, 171
Fischer, WiUiam G., 484
Five mile Act, 85
Fleming, D. Hay, 35
Flesher, John, 277
Fletcher, Giles and Phtneas, 64
Flexman, R., 140
Flint, Abel, 168, 373
Flint, James, 462, 466, 468
Floy, J., 290, 291, 299
F6llen, Ehza L., 468
Foote, H. W., 472
Foote, W. H., 181, 189
Forbes, John, 149
Ford, P. L., 162
Form of Prayer and new Collection of
Psalms, 133
Forme of prayers (1556), 27
(1564), 32
Foster, F. W., 274
Foundery, 229, 239; "a certain foundery,"
147; "a celebrated Foundery," 331
Foundling Hospital, 344
Four Centuries of select Hymns, 61
Fowler, J. T., 520
Fox, George, 94, 95, 96
Fox, George (Hodgkin), 94
Fox, George, Journal of, 95, 96
Fox, William J., 450, 465
Fox, W. J., Life of (Garnett), 450
Francis, George, 146
Francke, G. A., 225
Franklin, Benjamin, 162, 197
Franklin, Benjamin, Writings of, 162
Franklin, Jonathan, 14s
Eraser, D., 153
Frederica, 225
Free Church: 1843-1898, 536, 542
Free Church Hymn Book, 536, 542
Free Church Magazine, 153
Free Grace (Wesley), 232
Free Methodist Hymnal, 310
Free Methodists, 310
Freeman. James, 17s
Freewill Baptists, 366, 367
French Carols, 19; Psalmody, 27, 46, 220
Freylinghausen, J. A., 225, 240
Friendly Debate (Patrick), 53
Friends' Hymnal, 577
Friends. Society of, 94. 577
Frothingham, N. L., 468
Frothingham, O. B., 468
Froude, R. H., 514
Fry, B. St. J., 293, 29S
Fuguing tunes, 170. 171, 239, 344
Fuller and Jeter's Supplement, 365
Fuller. Margaret. 468
Fulneck, the singing at. 273
Funeral Hvmns (Wesleys'). 233
"Funeral Thought, A," 183
Gadsby, John, 146, 147. 33i. 333
Gadsby, William, 146
Gaine, Hugh, Journals of, 411
Gainsborough, loi
Gambold, John, 264, 266, 273
Gannett, William C. 472
Garnett, R., 450
Ganse, Hervey D., 557
Garden of Zion, 56
Gascoigne, G., 64
Gaskell, W.. 139
Gasquet and Bishop, 40, 41
Gates of Prayer (Macduff), 538
Gauntlett, H. J., 521, 522, 523
Gawthom, Nathaniel, 90
Geistliche Gedichle (Zinzendorf), 263
Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch, 225. 240
General Baptist Hymn Book. 143, 452
General Baptists, see Baptists
General camp meeting. 297
General Collection of Hymns and Spiritual
Songs for camp meetings (Bourne), 276
General History of Baptist Denomination
(Benedict), 366, 422
Genevan Psalmody, 22, 23, 26, 30, 46, 55
Genevan Psalter, 27, 28, 29, 33, SS, 448
Georgia, the Wesleys in, 223, 225-227
German Baptist Brethren, 199, 367
German Hymns, v, 21, 22, 23, 31; and the
Wesleys, 224, 225, 263; Moravian.
263, 264, 271; Dunker, 367; United
Brethren, 312; Evangel. Assn., 314;
Mennonite, 368; German Reformed,
409; Lutheran, 410. 411. 416, 417, 562
German hymns Englished: Wesley, 224,
246; Moravian, 263, 264, 271; Lyra
David ica, 346; a new school of trans-
lators. 507, 508; Lutheran, 417, 560, 562
German Reformed Church:
1800, introduction of English hymns, 409
1836, first English hymn book, 409
1857-1890, Liturgical movement and
party hymn and service books, 548-
550
Germantown, 271
Gesang-Buch dcr Gemcinc in Hcrrnhui,
das, 225
Gesangbuch (Moravian, 1778), 270
INDEX
60 1
Geschichte des Kirchenlieds (Koch), 263
Goostly Psalmes and Spiriluall Songes, 25
Giardini, 324
Gibbons, Thomas, 113, 122, 124, 212
Gibson, Edmund, 341, 342
Gibson, James, 533
GiSord, H., 64
Gilkey, D., 300
Gill, John, 99, 106, 144
Gill, Thomas H., 457, 579
Gillies, John, 359
Gilman, A., 553
GUman, Caroline, 468
Gilman, S., 468
Gilman, W. S., S53
Giordani, 325
Gladden, Washington, 580, 582
Glas, John, 326
Glasgow: Cathedral, 535; Congregational-
ism, 157; Trinity, 579; Presbytery, 150
Glass' History of Independent Church at
Rothwell, 104
Glassites, 156, 326
Glezen, E. K., 557
Gloria in Excelsis, 80, 531
Gloria in Excelsis (Williams), 324
Gloria Palri (Wesley), 233
Gloucester, Mass., 164; ist parish, 421;
Universalism, 421; crank organ, 421
Goadby, J. J., 93, 94, 98
Golden Chain of Praise, 457
Golden Grove, 68
Golden Hymn Book, 577
Good Friday Hymn, 76
Good, J. H., 420
Goodwin, Thomas. 103
Gospel Canticles, 153
Gospel Hymn, the: origin and develop-
ment, 482-492; 301, 307, 430, 559
Gospel Hymns: Nos. 2-6, 487
Gospel Hymns and sacred Songs, 486, 488,
490. 491. 492
Gospel Magazine, 215, 331, 334, 335, 337, 515
Gospel Musick (Homes), 104 '
Gospel Psalmist (Adams), 481
Gospel Songs (Bliss), 486
Gospel Sonnets, 153
Goss, Sir John, 508, 521
Gough, B., 255
Graces before meat, 27, 29
Graces before meat, 233
Granade, J. A., 295
Grand Debate, 82
Grant, James, 454
Grant, Sir Robert, 436
Grantham, Thomas, 92, 93
Gravener, B., 89
Graves, Abraham, 203
Gray, J., 355, 356
Gray, Thomas, jr., 468
Great Awakening and Church Song: Con-
gregationalist, 161, 163, 358; Presby-
terian, 179, 3s8; Church of England,
358; Baptist, 198, 358, 362
Great Revival Hymns No. 2, 492
Greatorex, Henry W., 388, 479
Greek hymns, viii, 505, 506
Green, J. R., 256
Green, R., 226, 229, 230, 236, 237, 281, 282
Greenwood, F. W. P., 461, 463
Gregor, C. 270
Gregorian Melody, 39, 503, S04, 521, 569
Gregory, A. E., 226, 230, 246, 252
Grenfield, T., 436
Grey, John, 521
Grindal, Edmund, 31
Grigg, Joseph, 216
Grimshaw, W., 329
Grosart, A. B., 66
Groser, W., 146
Grounds of Nonconformity, 83
Grounds of vocal Music (Wesley), 242
Grounds and rules of Music, 161
Grove, Henry, 140
Grove's Dictionary of Music, 75
Guardian, the, 116, 509
Gude and godlie Ballatis, 26, 33
Guild, R. A., 196
Gurney, A. T., 517
Gumey, John H., 516
H
Hackensack, 411
Hale, E. E., 423, 464
Hale, Mary W., 468
Halelviah (Wither), 65
Hall, C. C, 490, 556
Hall, Louisa G., 468
Hall, Robert, 215
Hall, W. J., 500
Hallelujah (Waite), 522
Hallowed Songs, 301, 486
Hamilton, James. 526, 527
Hamilton, James, Life of (Amot), 526
Hammond, William, 273, 317
Handel, 240, 324
Hanbury, R., 101, 102
Hankey, Katherine, 487
Hanover Presbytery, 181, 182, 189
Harcourt, Archbishop, 355, 356
Hardy, John, 431
Harland, E., 517
Harland, W., 277
Harmonia Coelestis, 373
Harmonia perfecta, 90
Harmonia sacra, 240
Harp, the, 430
Harper, Edward, 510
Harrington, Sir John, 47
Harris, George, 557
Harris, Thoro, 310
Harris, William, 89
Harrisburg: German Ref. Church, 369, 409
Harrod, J. J., 295, 308
Harrow School, 445
Hart, Andro, 34
Hart, Joseph, v, 146, 212, 335
Hart, Luther, 373
Hartford, 373, 374
Hartford Selection, 167, 373, 374. 375
Hartford Seminary Record, 457, 581
Harvard: Hymn Book, 133; Divinity
School, 17s, 463, 472
Harvest Hymn (Alford), 518
Hastings, Lady Margaret, 318
Hastings, Thomas, 377. 378. 379. 407.
408, 479
Hatfield, E. F., 366, 553
Hathaway, W., 481
Havergal, Frances R., 513, 5i8, Si9. 520
Havergal, W. H., 513, 520
Havergal's Psalmody and Century of Chants,
513
Haweis, T., 323, 325
Hawker, R. S., 517
"Hawkeye," 483
Hawks, Annie S., 487
Heart and \'oice, 300
Heart Melodies, 485
Heathcote, W. B., 516
Heathlands, 527
Heber, Reginald, 68, 417. 436. 437-439.
442, 443. 445, 453. 458, 498
Heber, Reginald, Life of, 438, 439
Hebrew Melodies (Byron), 435, 436
Hedge, F. H., 465. 468
Heidelberg Catechism, 404, 408
Helmore, Thomas, 20, 503, 521
Hehnsley, 330
Hemans, Mrs., 436
602
INDEX
Henkel, Ambrose, 415
Henkel, Paul, 415
Henry VIII, 25, 38, 44
Henry, Matthew, 86, 105
Henry, Matthew, Memoirs of, 86
Henshaw, J. P. K., 398, 401
Hensley, Lewis, 517
Heralds of a Liberal Faith, 175
Herbert, George, 66, 67, 79, 87, 88, 105,
206, 224, 229, 252
Hernaman, Claudia F.. 514, 518
Herrick, Robert, 66, 206
Hermhut. 228, 255, 263
Hewett, J. W., Si7
Heyl, L., 420
Heywood, W. S., 165
Hickes, G., 224
Hickok, M. J., 386
Higginson, T. W., 468
Higham, Charles, 106, 344, 346
Hildebert, 543
Hildebum's Issues of Pennsylvania Press,
185, 199. 271, 359
Hill, Rowland, 327, 328
Hill, Rowland, Memoir of, 328
Hill, Thomas, 468
Hilsey, Bishop, 38
Himes, J. V., 429, 430
Hinde, T. S., 295
Hindmarsh, R., 426
Hinton, J. H., 14s
Hirten Lieder, 271
Historic Manual of the Reformed Church
(Dubbs), 409
Historic proof of the Calvinism of the Church
of England (Toplady) , 333
Historical Memorials relating to the Inde-
pendents (Hanbury), loi, 102
Historical Sketch of Old Pine Street Church,
191
History and Antiquities of dissenting
Churches (Wilson), 89, 123, 126
History of the American Episcopal Church
(Perry), 397
(McConnell), 396, 400
History of American Music (Elson), 170
History of Baptist Churches in the United
States (Newman), 196
History of Bro7un University (Guild), 196
History of the Church Known as Unitas
Fratrum (de Schwcinitz), 21-
History of the Church of the United Brethren
(Spayth), 312
History of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church (McDonnold), 297, 298, 556
History of England (Tindal) : Rapin's con-
tinuation, 315
History of English Baptists (Crosby), 97, 99
(Ivimey), 99
History of English Congregationalism (Dale),
106, 122
History of English Poetry (Warton), 55
(Courthope), 25, 115, 253
History of English Prosody (Saintsbury), 115
History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in the United States (Jacobs), 410,
411, 412, 413, 419
History of the Evangelical Party (Balleine),
329, 344, 350, S19
History of First Baptist Church of Boston
(Wood), 196, 197, 198
History of First Presbyterian Church of
Carlisle, 191
History of the Free Churches (Skeats), 130
History of the Methodist Episcopal Church
in the United States (Stevens), 282,
284, 294, 295, 296, 298
History of the Moravian Church in Phila-
delphia (Ritter), 271, 273
History of Music in New EnglandiHood), 162
History of Presbyterian and General Bap-
list Churches (Murch), 89
History of the Presbyterian Church in Ken-
tucky (Davidson), 190, 291, 292, 296
History of Presbyterians in England (Drys-
dale), 8s, 130
History of the Primitive Methodists (Bourne),
276
History of the Puritans (Neal), 103
History of the Reformed Church in Phila-
delphia (Van Home), 410
History of Religious Denominations (Rupp),
305, 306
History of the Revision of the Discipline
(Sherman), 284
History of the Rise of Methodism in America
(Lednum), 281
Hitchcock, R. D., 553
Hitt, Daniel, 289
Hodge, George S., 517
Hodgkin, Thomas, 94
Hodnet, 437
Hogarth, G., 306
Holbrook, J. P., 479
Holden, Oliver, 170
Hole, Dean, 517
Holland and Everett's Memoirs of Mont-
gomery, 271
Holland, J. G., 568
Holland, Canon Scott, 569, 571
Hollingside, 521, 553
Hollis, Brand, 86
Holme, Thomas and Elizabeth, 95
Holmes, O. W., 365, 468, 469, 470
Holy Club, 222, 223, 264
Holy Songs (Boyd), 57
Holy Year (Wordsworth), 516
Holy days of the Church (Mant), 514
Holyoke, Samuel, 172, 204
Home and School Hymnal, 537
"Home, sweet Home," 310
Homes, Nathaniel, 104
Homiletic use of Hymnody (as sermon-
illustrations): 127, 143, 208, 209, 337,
352, 364. 387, 476, 480, 558, 572
Hood, E. P., IIS
Hood, George, 162
Hooke, W., 103
Hooker, Horace, 389
Ilopedale Collection, 425
Hopkins, E. J., 423. 459, 537
Hopkinson, FVancis, 170, 184, 393, 394, 402
Ilopkinson, Francis, and Lyon, James, 170,
184, i8s, 192
Horae, 38
Ilorae Germanicae, 417
Horae Lyricae, 114
Horbury, 521, 553
Horder, W. Garrett, 125, 126, 205, 439,
457, 579, 580
Horn, E. T., 416
Home, W. W., 145
Horrible Decree, 232
Ilosanna, the, 564
Ilosannah to the Son of David, 324
Hoskins, E., 38
Hosmer, Frederick L., 472, 578
Hoss, Elijah E., 312
Houghton, P., 140
Hours, the, 40, 44
Housman, Henry, 250, 447, 517
Housman, Laurence, 569
Hovey, H. C, 180
How, W. Walsham, 516
Howard, Dr., 174
Howe, M. A. DeW., 545
Howsc, H. E. jr., 135
Hubberthorne, R., 95
Huddersfield, 330
Huguenot Psalmody, 27, 46, 220
INDEX
603
Hull, Asa, 484
Hullah, John, 446, 522
Humanitarianism in hymns, 582, 588
Humble AUempt toward the Improvement of
Psalmody, 181
Humble suit, 29, 30, 34. 77
Hunnis, William, 64
Hunter. John, 460, 579
Hunter. William. 311
Huntingdon, Countess of, 232, 316, 318,
319-325. 329
Huntingdon, Countess of. Life and Times
of, 316, 318, 320, 322, 32s
Huntington, F. D., 465, 467, 468, S44
Hurn, W., 353
Hursley, SS3
Hurst Library Catalogue, 282
Hus, John, and Hussites, 21, 23, 24
Hutchison, Patrick, 155
Hutchins, Charles L., 546, 547
Hutton, Hugh, 140
Hutton, James, 227, 263, 266, 273
Hutton, James, Memoir of, 263, 269
Hymn, the (Definition): as Church Song,
viii, ix, 19, 22, 588
as distinguished from the metrical
psalm, ix, 22, 23, 24, 37, 42. 45-63.
112, 217
as distinguished from devotional po-
etry, 63-72, 442, 45.5
as liturgical verse, viii, 19, 517
as the poetry of pure devotion, 449
as praise in song, 370, 588, 589, 590
as a religious lyric, viii, 19, 253, 568
as a religious ode, 64
(Type): advent, 429, 431
amatory, 267, 268
antiphonal, 273, 317, 319
anti-slavery, 367
autobiographical, 249, 250, 339
baptismal, 87, 100, 198, 199, 362, 400
camp meeting, 276, 293, 483
catechetical, 404
charity, 344
child's, 121, 238, 273
churchly, 252
communion, see Communion
controversial, 232, 233
devotional, 449, 469
in dialogue, 317, 3i9
didactic, 67, 212. 387
doctrinal, 209, 387
ejaculatory, 292
of experience, 208, 248-250, 339, S18
evangelical, 52, 109, no, 208, 336,
339, 498, S7S
evangelistic, 247, 483, 520, 567
for feet-washing, 367, 368, 369
fervid. 214. 249, 256
festival, 251
fleshly-spiritual, 266
gospel, 301, 307, 430, 483, 484. 48s.
487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 559
humanitarian, 582, 588
"I" and "we," 516
inspirational, 95, 427, 431
introspective, 214, 339
of the kingdom, 581, 584, 58s
litany, 517
literary, 252,437, 440, 445. 458, 469, 569
liturgical, 251, 252, 498, 511, 517
of the Mass, 514
military, 293
missionary, 324, 353, 37S
Moravian. 265, 268
morbid, 265-267, 339
patriotic, 112, 166. 169
plaintive, 214, 519
poetic, 252, 437, 440, 442. 448, 449,
458, 459
polemical, 209, 232, 294, 323, 335
prose, viii
revival: see Revival
Romantic, 442
sacramental, 251, 498, 511, 514, 573
saint's day, 499, 510, 511, 568
Scriptural, in, 441
sectarian, 432
social, 582, 586
translated, 37, 246
Wattsian, 115, 207, 216, 252, 440
Wesleyan, 252, 440
"Hymn" in Encyclopaedia Britannica, vii
"Hymn after sermon," the 144
Hymn and Prayer Book (Kunze), 411,
412, 413
Hymn and Tune Book (Unitarian), 578
Hymn and Tune Book for Church and
Home, 471
Hymn and Tune Book of M. E. Church, 303
Hymn before Sunrise, 435
Hymn Book (Read), 128, 453
Hymn Book for Christian Worship (Rob-
bins), 465
Hymn Book for the children (Moravian),
271
Hymn Book for use of churches and chapels,
501
Hymn Book of African M. E. Church, 306
Hymn Book of Evangelical Association, 314
Hymn Book of the modern Church (Gregory),
226, 230. 246, 252
Hymn Book of Methodist Protestant Church,
308
Hymn Book of United Presbyterian Church,
155. 531
Hymn, the Congregational, as the badge
of Protestantism, 20, 21
Hymn Form, the, 22, 24, 207
Hymn Lover, the, 126, 205, 457
Hymn of Hildebcrt and Ode of Xavier, 543
Hymn of human composure, the, 23
Hymn of Rebecca, 435
Hymn on the Nativity of my Saviour, 64
Hymn on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 552
Hymn Studies (Nutter), 302
Hymn Tinkering:
question of, 138
Wesley on, 247
by Unitarians, 136, 138, 141, 450,
460, 461, 467
Evangelicals, 139
Whitefield, 247, 319
Toplady, 247
Flesher, 277
Cotterill, 356
Martineau, 450
Scotch Presby., 532, 533, 534
Hymn Tracts, 232
Hymn, Tune and Service Book for S. S., 471
Hymn Tunes and their story (Lightwood),
240, 241
Hymn Tunes sung in Church of the United
Brethren, 270
Hymn Tunes used in Church of the United
Brethren, 272
Hymn upon St. Bartholomew's Day, 66
Hymnal, the (hymn book):
(anglo) Catholic, 501, 504. Sn. S13-514
commercialized, 480. 490, SSL 555
as "companion to the Prayer Book":
Wither, 65, 251; Ken, 69, 251; Wes-
ley. 251; Heber, 251, 438, 444". Woodd,
351.
as companion to Lutheran Liturgy, 415
evangelistic, 374
first English, 25
individual (unauthorized), 578
literary: sec Poetic
as manual of doctrine, 370, 387
6o4
INDEX
as manual of sermon illustrations: see
Homiletic Use
as manual of social service, 585-587, 589
as manual of spiritual discipline, 249,
338
as manual of worship, 571-574
party, 446
poetic, 438. 439, 448, 449, 451, 458.
568, 569
public school, 445
as reflecting faith, feeling and life, vi, 576
as reflecting the poetry of the time, 435
Romantic, 438, 439
"Social," 294, 299, 300
Sunday school, 484
with the tunes, 21, 22, 477, 508
Hvmnal (Grey), 521
(HullaW, 446
(Prot. Episc.) 1872, 546, 552, 561: re-
vised and enlarged i8q2, 547
Hymnal adapted to African M. E. Church,
307
Hymnal: amore Dei, 472
Hymnal Comfanion to the Book of Com-
mon Prayer (Bickersteth), 448, 511, 519
(Refd. Episc). 548
Hymnal for Jubilee Convention, 490
Hymnal for use in English Church, 509
Hymnal noted, 502, 503-4, 506
Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
302, 310
Hymnal of the Reformed Church in U. S., 550
Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church (old
school), 551
Hymnal of United Evangelical Church, 314
Hymnal published by authority of General
Assembly (1895: Presby'n), 490, 555;
revised in igii, 584
Hymnary, 514, 556
Hymnary discussions in the General Assem-
bly, 539, 540
Hymner, 570
Hymnes and Songs of the Church (Wither),
31. 6s, 67
Hymni ecclesiae (Newman), 495
Hymni sacri (Casander), 496
"Hymnody" as distinct from "Hym-
nology," 24
Hymnody, denominational: see under
names of the various denominations
"Hymnody of the English-speaking
Churches," vii, ix
Hymnody of the liberal faith, 132, 174,
449. 460, 469, 473,. 481, 579
as divorced from Scripture, 450
as divorced from doctrine, 136, 449, 454,
579. 587
as divorced from historical Christianity,
450, 466, 578
as divorced from the Church, 585. 587
Hymnology: as the ordered knowledge of
hymns, 25
backwardness of English, vi
Early hymnologists: see Bird, Creamer,
Hatfield, Neale, Park, Schafif, Sedg-
wick
first American treatise on, 475
preparation of Julian's Dictionary of. vii
Hymns (Historical): Early English. 19
admitted into Lutheran, barred from
Reformed worship, 22-24
English, largely postponed till xviiith
century, 21
Coverdale's attempt at English, 25;
the Wedderburns", 26
in the old English Psalter, 26
in the Scottish Psalter, 32
attempt to translate Latin, 37
evolving from metrical psalms, 45
evolving from devotional poetry, 63
Restoration movement toward, 73;
Church of England. 75; Presby-
terian, 82; Baptist, 97; Independent,
lOI
Watts' movement for, chaps, iii, iv,
Methodist movement for, chaps, v, vi
Evangelical movement for, 315
within covers of Prayer Book, 349
prohibited in Church of England, 354
allowedin Church of England, 356
use of in American Churches, chaps,
iv, vi, viii
in present day use, chap, xi
(groupings): Breviary: see office Hymns
German: see German
Greek, viii, 505, 508
ignorance of, vi, 260, 299, 333, 374, 375
Latin: see Latin
Missal, 70, 501, 502
New Version: see N. V.
Objections made to in Church of Eng-
land, 354
Office: see office
Old Version: see O. V.
Prayer Book: why absent, 40, 41
Prejudice against, v
Primer: see Primer
Hymns: their relation to Literature: see
Literature
Hymns: indexed under the first line:
A debtor to mercy alone, 334
A little child the Saviour came, 537
A few more years shall roll, 538
Abide with me: fast falls the eventide,
444, 546, 552
Adieu to the city where long I have wan-
dered, 432
Ah! lovely appearance of death, 183
Alas, and did my Saviour bleed, 117
All glory be to (jod on high, 77
All hail the power of Jesus' Name, 374
All my belief, and confidence, 29
All Praise to Thee my God this Night,
206, 347
All ye, who faithful Servants are, 80
Almighty God, Thy word is cast, 353
Almost persuaded now to believe, 487
Angel-voices, ever singing, 518
Angels from the realms of glory, 441
Angels, roll the rock away, 374
Another six days' work is done, 100
As pants the Hart for cooling Streams,
49.
As with gladness :nen of old, 516
At even, 'ere the sun was set, 516
At the Name of Jesus, 517
Attend my people and geue eare, 29, 34
Awake and sing the song, 317
Awake, my Soul, and with the Sun, 206,
347
Behold now geue heede suche as be. 29
Behold the Saviour of mankind, 221
Behold the Sun that seemed but now, 66
Behold we come dear Lord to thee, 77
Beyond the glittering starry skies, 213
Bless'd morning whose young, 152
Blessed are the sons of God, 317
Blest be the tic that binds, 427
Blow ye the trumpet, blow, 241, 334, 374
Bread of Heaven, on Thee I feed, 453
Brethren, let us join to bless, 317
Brief life is here our portion, 552
Brightest and Vx'st of the sons, 406
Brightly gleams our Father's mercy. 487
By Christ redeemed, in Christ I'estored,
452
By Jesus' grave, on either hand, 517
By the rivers of Watertown, 169
Camp meetings with success are crowned,
276
INDEX
605
Hymns: Indexed under the first line (con-
tinued):
Captain of thy enlisted host, 326
Cast thy burden on the Lord, 328
Children of the heav'nly King, 317
Christ from the Dead is rais'd, and made,
80, 347
Christ he sits on Zion's hill, 276
Christ in his word draws near, 456
Christ is coming! let creation, 538
Christ is risen; Christ is risen, 517
Christ — of all my hopes the ground, 157
Christ the Lord is ris'n to Day, 230
Christ to the young man said, 466
Christ, whose glory fills the skies, 232, 333
Christian, seek not yet repose, 519
Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come, 347
Come, Holy Ghost eternal God, 28
Come, Holy Ghost, in love, 476
Come holie Spirit the God of might, 29
Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove, 116
Come, let us to the Lord our God, 151
Come, love Divine! thy power impart, 344
Come, my soul, thy suit prepare, 339
Come, O come, with pious lays, 66
Come we that love the Lord, 116
Come, ye thankful people, come, 518
Courage, brother! do not stumble, S37
Dear Lord and Master mine, 457
Dear Saviour, if these lambs should
stray, 376
Deathless principle, arise, 255
Dies irae, dies ilia, 67, 34s, 435, 531
Dismiss me not Thy service, Lord, 456
Draw nigh to Thy Jerusalem, O Lord, 68
Drop, drop, slow tears, 64
Earth with its dark and dreadful ills, 482
E'er I sleep for every favor, 317
Enlisted in the cause of sin, 294
Enthron'd on high, almighty Lord, 324
Eternal Father, strong to save, 516
Eternal Power! whose high abode, lis
Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round, 472
Father, how wide Thy Glory shines, 115
Father, I want a thankful heart, 333
Father, in Thy mysterious presence
kneeling, 467
Father, whate'er of earthly bliss, 159
Felowe of thy fathers lyght, 42
Few are thy days and full of woe, 151
Fierce raged the tempest o'er the deep,
.517
Fight the good fight with all thy might,
S17
For ever with the Lord, 441
From Greenland's icy mountains, 375, 406
From ocean unto ocean, 543
From the cross uplifted high, 324
From the eastern mountains, 447
Full of mercy, full of love, 68
Gently, Lord, O gently lead us, 379
Gieb Fried zu unser Zeit, O Herr, 31
Giue peace in these our dales O Lord, 29
Glorious things of thee are spoken, 339
Glory to God on high, 326
Glory to Thee, O Lord, 516
Go to dark Gethsemane, 441
God is working His purpose out, 569
God moves in a mysterious way, 337,
339. 432
God of our fathers, known of old, 569
God spake these words, 347
God, to Thee we humbly bow, 309
God's trumpet wakes the slumbering
world, 442
Golden harps are sounding, 519
Gracious Spirit, dwell with me, 456
Granted is the Saviour's prayer, 230
Great Creator, who this day, 519
Great God of Wonders! all Thy Ways, 212
Hymns: Indexed under the first line (con-
tinued) :
Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah, 324,
374. 406
Hail the Day that sees Him rise, 230
Haill Thou once-despised Jesus, 254
Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad
morning, 379
Hail to the Lord's Anointed, 441
Hark how all the Welkin rings (Hark!
the herald angels sing), 230, 260, 347
Hark Israel, and what I say, 29
Hark, my gay friend, that solemn toll,
394. 395
Hark! my soul, it is the Lord, 339
Hark! what mean those holy voices, 353
Have Mercy, Lord, on me, 49
He leadeth me! He leadeth me! 484
Heaven is here: its hymns of gladness,
482
Here, O my Lord, I see Thee face to face,
538
He's free, he's free, the Prophet's free, 433
High let us swell our tuneful notes, 347
Ho! my comrades, see the signal, 487, 491
Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness, 334
Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty,
442, 458, S3I
Hosanna we sing, like the children, 517
How calm and beautiful the mom, 379
How happy are we, 323, 334
How shall I follow Him I serve, 453
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds,
339
Hushed was the evening hymn, 538
I am coming to the cross, 311
I asked the Lord that I might grow, 337
I gave My life for thee, 519
I hear Thy welcome voice, 491
I heard the voice of Jesus say, 538
I love Thy Kingdom, Lord, 167
I love to steal awhile away, 376
I love to tell the story, 484, 487
I need Thee every hour, 487
I sing the birth was born to-night, 64
I would not live alway, 400, 406
In token that thou shalt not fear, S18
In thy mountain retreat, 433
Into the woods my Master went, 568
It is not death to die, 407
Jerusalem the golden, 503, 546, 552
Jesu[s], Lover of my Soul, 231, 232, 237,
250, 268, 334, 374, 406, 419, 467
Jesu, meek and lowly, 515
Jesu, my Lord, my God, my All, 515
Jesus came, the heavens adoring, 447
Jesus, cast a look on me, 331
Jesus Christ is ris'n to-day, 346, 347
Jesus, my All, to Heav'n is gone, 317
Jesus, still lead on, 273
Jesus, these eyes have never seen, 476
Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts, 476
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness, 273
Joyfully, joyfully onward I move, 311
Judge Eternal, throned in splendor, 569
Just as I am, without one plea, 519
Laborers of Christ, arise, 363
Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling
gloom, 464, S17, 520
Let party names no more, 427
Let tyrants shake their iron rod, 169
Lift up to God the voice of praise, 157
Lift your glad voices in triumph, 468
Light in the darkness, sailor, 487
Light of the lonely pilgrim's heart, 507
Like Noah's weary dove, 400
Lo! He comes, with clouds descending,
159
Lord, as to Thy dear cross we flee, 516
Lord, come away, why dost Thou stay, 68
6o6
INDEX
Hymns: Indexed under the first line (con-
tinued) :
Lord, I am Thine, entirely Thine, 212
Lord, I hear of showers of blessing, 484
Lord of all being, throned afar, 460
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak, 519
Lord, we come before Thee now, 317
Lord, when we bend before Thy throne,
353
Lord, when Thy kingdom comes, 517
Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise Thee,
400
Love divine, all loves excelling, 419
My country, 'tis of thee, 36s
My faith looks up to Thee, 379
My God and Father, while I stay, 519
My God, and is Thy table spread, 347
My Life's a Shade, my dales, 69
My Lord, my Love, was crucified, 71, 206
My Song is love unknown, 69
My soul, there is a countrie, 67
My soule doth magnifye the Lord, 28
My whole, though broken heart, O Lord,
70
Nearer, my God, to Thee, 450, 463
Never weather-beaten sail more willing, 6s
New every morning is the love, 493
Now from the altar of my heart, 71
Now [Lord] it belongs not to my care, 70
Now may the Spirit's holy Fire,_ 317
Now that the Day-star doth arise, 77
Now the day is over, 516
Now to the Lord a noble song, 117
O all ye works of God the Lord, 28
O Bread to pilgrims given, 476
O Brightness of the immortal Father's
face, 529
O Christ, our King, Creator, Lord, 476
O Christ, what burdens bowed thy head,
S39
O come and let vs now reioyce, 29
Oh, could I find from day to day, 200
O day of rest and gladness, 516
O day to sweet religious thought, 482
Oh, for a closer walk with God, 15s, 332,
339
O for a thousand tongues, 232, 241
O for the happy hour, 407
O God, beneath Thy guiding hand, 389
O God of earth and altar, 569
O God of Hosts, the mighty Lord, 49
O happy saints, who dwell in light, 331
O holy, holy, holy Lord, 400
O Jesu, I have promised, 517
O Lamb of God, still keep me, 507
O Light whose beams illumine all, S16
O little town of Bethlehem, 568
O Lord and will Thy pardoning love, 370
O Lord be cause my harts desire, 28
O Lord, how happy should we be, 515
O Lord in thee is all my trust, 29, 33, 34, 77
O Lord, my Saviour and Support, 76
O Lorde of [on] whom I do depend, 29, 34
O Lord turn not away thy face, 29, 34, 81,
347
O Love Divine that stooped, 469
O Love that wilt not let me go, 538, 588
O mean may seem this house of clay, 457
O perfect Love, all human thought tran-
scending, 517
O quickly come, dread Judge of all, S16
O Saints, have ye seen, 433
O send me down a draft of love, 153
O think of the home over there, 484
O Thou, from whom all goodness flows,
324
O Thou, to whose all-searching sight, 273
O Thou, uncaused, unseen, immense, 454
O when my righteous Judge shall come,
321
Hymns: Indexed under the first line (con-
tinued):
O where is He that trod the sea, 456
One God there is, and one alone, 62
One sweetly solemn thought, 482
Onward, Christian soldiers, 516
Our blest Redeemer, ere He breathed, 444
Our father which in heaven art, 29
Our God, our God, Thou shinest here,
4S7
Our God, our Help in ages past, v
Peace, perfect peace, 519
Praise the Lord! ye heavens adore Him,
345
Praise to our God proclaim, 76
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 441
Prayse the Lord O ye Gentiles all, 29
Preserue vs Lord by thy deare word, 29
Reform, and be immersed, 370
Rescue the perishing, 487
Return, O wand'rer, to thy home, 379
Rise, my Soul, and stretch thy Wings,
317
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 334, 335, 406,
419. 465
Safe in the arms of Jesus, 487, 491
Salve festa dies, 39
Saviour, again to Thy dear name we
raise, 516, 552
Saviour, blessed Saviour, 447, 517
Saviour, who Thy flock art feeding, 400
See, sinful soul, thy Saviour's suffering
see, 76
Shall we gather at the river, 4S4
Shout the glad tidings, 400
Since Christ, our Passover, is slain, 80,
347
Since Jesus freely did appear, 331
Sing we of the golden city, 582
Softly falls the twilight ray, 365
Softly now the light of day, 400
Soldiers of Christ, arise, 241
Sons of men, behold from far, 230
Stand up for Jesus, 308
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, 308
Still with Thee, O my God, 538
Sun of my soul. Thou Saviour dear, 493,
546
Sunset and evening star, 568
Sweet hour of prayer, 484
Sweet is the work, my God, my King,
432
Sweet the moments rich in blessing, i2j„
326
Swell the anthem, raise the song, 373
Take my life, and let it be, 519
Teach me yet more of Thy blest ways, 266
Tell me the old, old story, 487, 491
That day of wrath, that dreadful day, 435
The Church's one Foundation, 516, 552
The duteous day now closeth, 448
The God of Abraham praise, 254
The God that others worship, 433
The hour of my departure's come, 152
The King, O God, his heart to Thee up-
raiseth, 448
The King of Love my Shepherd is, 51s
The Lord be thanked for his gifts, 29, 34,
84
The Lord be with us when we sail, 517
The Lord is King! Lift up thy voice, 453
The morning light is breaking, 365, 379
The night is come, like to the day, 70
The only lorde of Israel, 28
The radiant morn hath passed away, 447,
517
The roseate hues of early dawn, 516
The sands of time are sinking, 539
The shepherds have lifted their sweet
warning voice, 433
INDEX
607
Hymns: Indexed under the first line (con-
tinued):
The Son of God goes forth to war, 442
The sower went forth sowing, 517
The Spirit in our hearts, 400
The Spirit of God hke a fire is burning,
432
The tree of life, my soul hath seen, 202
There is a fountain filled with blood, 332
There is an hour of peaceful rest, 376
There's a star in the sky, 568
There were ninety and nine, 491
Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old, 516
Thine for ever, God of love, 517
This is the day of light, 517
Thou art the Way, to Thee alone, 400
Thou fountain of bliss, 334
Thou God, all Glory, Honour, Power, 80
Thou hast gone up on high, 516
Thou, Who at Thy first Eucharist didst
pray, 518
Thou, who didst stoop below, 468
Thro' all the changing scenes of life, 49
Thy kingdom come, O God, 517
Thy way, not mine, O Lord, 538
Till He come! O let the word, 519
'Tis midnight, and on Olives' brow, 376
To God be Glory, Peace on Earth, 80
To Him who is the Life of life, 482
To Thee, and to Thy Christ, O God, 539
'Twixt gleams of joy, and clouds of
doubt, 537
Up to the throne of God is borne, 436
Veni Creator Spiritus, 28, 33, 34, 37, 40,
.43. 44. 77, 227, 354
View me, Lord, a work of Thine, 6s
We praise thee God, 28
We sing His love who was once slain, 328
We sing to Thee, Thou Son of God, 317
We sing to thee whos wisdom form'd, 78
Weary of earth and laden, 516
We'll find the place which God for us
prepared, 433
Welcume Fortoun, welcum againe, 33
What grace, O Lord, and beauty shone,
S07
What greater wealth than a contented
minde, 34
What man soeuer he be that, 28
What tho' my frail eye-lids refuse, 334
Whe:a all Thy mercies, O my God, 15s
When I can read my Title clear, 116, 585
When I survey the wondrous Cross, 116,
419
When Jesus first at heaven's command,
328
When the weary, seeking rest, 538
When the passing world is done, 537
Where cross the crowded ways of life,
312, 585
Where high the heavenly temple stands,
151
Where righteousness doth say, 29, 34
Where shall my wand'ring soul begin, 229
While my Jesus I'm possessing, 326
While Shepherds watch'd their Flocks by
Night, 80, 206, 347
While Thee I seek, protecting Power, 140
While with ceaseless course the sun, 337
Why do we mourn departing Friends, 117
Wilt Thou forgive that sin, 64
With Glory clad, with Strength arrayed,
49
With heavenly power, O Lord, defend,
328
With Mary's love, without her fear, 156
Ye scarlet-coloured sinners, come, 203
You will see your Lord a coming, 429
Hymns adapted to divine worship (Gibbons),
124, 127, 212
Hymns adapted to public worship (Bed-
dome), 215
(Irish), 539
Hymns adapted In the circumstances of public
worship (Fawcett), 215
Hymns adapted to the public worship of the
Christian Church (Campbell), 381
Hymns ancient and modern, 447, 448, 506.
509, 522, 552, 553; Preparation, 509;
reception, 510; contents, 510; circula-
tion, 510, sii; revision, 511, 568; new
hymns in, 515; supplements to, 513;
music of, 521; American reprints, 546.
Historical Edition. 90, 357, 510
Hymns and Anthems (Fox), 450
Hymns and Choirs, 475
Hymns and devotional Poetry (Andrews), 401
Hymns and Hymn Makers (Campbell), 126
Hymns and Hymn Writers (Brownlie), 541,
542
Hymns and Hymn Writers of the Church
(Nutter and Tillett), 304
Hymns and Introits (White), 509
Hymns and Meditations (Waring), 519
Hymns and Sacred Poems (C. and J.
Wesley) :
1739, 229, 231, 236, 280, 358
1740, 231, 236
1742, 234, 236
(C. Wesley), 234
Hymns and Singers of Y. M. C. A., 483
Hytnns and Songs of Praise, 553
Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Alline), 366,
367
(Browne), 62, 105, 123, 127, 212
(Christians), 480
(Jayne), 200
(Glassite), 156
(Watts), see Watts, Isaac.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs collected (New-
port), 199
Hymns and Spiritual Songs composed (by
J. Franklin), 145
Hymns and Spiritual Songs for New Church.
426, 529
Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of
Christians (Phila.), 294
Hymns and Spiritual Songs intended for the
use of real Christians (Wesley), 236,
281
Hymns and Spiritual Songs mostly collected
(Gen. Bapt.), 142
Hymns and Spiritual Songs selected (Gen.
Bapt.), 143
Hymns and Spiritual Songs selected and
original (Dupuy), 203
Hymns chiefly ynediaval, 502
Hymns collected by committee of General As-
sembly (i860), 532
Hymns composed by different authors (Univ.),
424
Hymns composed for the celebration . . . of
Baptism, 100, 105, 213
Hymns composed for the use of the Brethren
(Wesley), 268
Hymns composed on several subjects (Davis),
104, 105, 106
Hymns cow.posed on various subjects (Hart),
213
Hymns connected with passages of sacred
Scripture, 532
Hymns designed for Second Advent Band,
429
Hyynns devotional and moral (Needham),
215
Hymns doctrinal and Experimental (Clarke),
145
Hymns for Ascension Day, 233
Hymns for the Chapel of Harrow School, 44S
Hymns for Children (Wesley), 233, 238
6o8
INDEX
Hymns for Children and others of riper
years (C. Wesley), 238
Hymns for the Christian Church (Ellis), 471
Hymns for the Christian. Church and Home
(Martineau), 87, 135.449
Hymns for Christian Devotion, 481
Hymns for Christian Melody, 367
Hymns for Christian worship (Seagrave), 317
Hymns for Church and Chamber, 520
Hymns for Church and Home (Prot. Episc),
545
(Stevenson), 540
(Univ.), 472
Hymns for the Church and the Home (Univ.),
481, 482
Hymns for the Church of Christ, 465
Hymns for the Church of England (Darling),
S13
Hyynns for the Church on Earth (Ryle), 519
Hymns for divine worship (Math. New
Conn.), 27s
Hymns for Infant Minds, 436
Hymns for Missions, 515
Hymns for the Monthly Concert, 375
Hymns for the Nation in 1782, 233
Hymns for the National Fast, 1782, 233
Hymns for the Nativity, 233
Hymns for the Ne^v Church, 344
Hymns for Nrw Year's Day, 233
Hymns for tlie Nursery, 436
Hymns for our Lord's Resurrection. 233
Hymns for Pastors and People (Dunn), 279
Hymns for the poor of the flock, 507
Hymns for the principal festivals (Cecil), 350
Hymns for the public Thanksgiving Day,
1746, 233
Hymns for public worship (Briggs), 463
(Enfield), 132
(Scottish), 532
Hymns for public worship, part II (Boston),
175
Hytnns for Reformed Church in U. S., 549
Hymns for Schools (Hill), 328
Hymyts for the services of the Church (Old-
know), 500
Hymns for social worship (Whitefield), 317,
318, 319, 322, 359, 360
(Wilson), 195
Hymns for Thanksgiving, 1759, 233
Hymns for those that seek and those that
live redemption (Wesley), 234, 281, 287
Hymns for times of trouble, 233
Hymns for times of trouble and persecu-
tion, 233
Hvmns for the use of Christians (Smith),
366
Hymns for the use of the Church of Christ
(Chapman), 507
Hymns for the use of the Clmrches (Irv-
ingete), 528
Hymns for use of Evangelical Lutheran
Church, 560
Hymns for the use of families, 235
Hymns for the use of Methodist Episcopal
Church, 299, 300
Hymns for the use of Methodist New Con-
nexion, 275
Hymns for the use of the New Church,
.344, 426, 529
Hymns for the use of Presbyterian congre-
gation in Lisburn, 133
Hymns for Vestry and Fireside, 365
Hymns for the Watchnight, 233
Hymns for the year 1756, 233
Hymns for Youth (Presby.), 383
Hymns from Greek office books, 505
Hymns from the Land of Luther, 507, 539
Hymns from Yattendon Hymnal, 448
Hymns founded on various texts (Dod-
dridge), 211
Hymns in a great variety of metres (Pel-
lows), 215
Hymns in commemoration of the sufferings
of our blessed Saviour, 100, 105
Hymns occasioned by the Earthqziake, 233
Hymns of the Advent, 430
Hymns of the Ages (Kerr), 556
(Whitmarsh), 465
Hymns of the Church (Refd. Dutch), 550
Hymns of the Church mostly primitive, 500
Hymns of the Church new and old, 583
Hymns of the Church Universal, 472
Hymns of Consecration and Faith, 520
Hymns of the Eastern Church, 505
Hymns of Evangelical Lutheran Church, 562
Hymns of Faith and Life (Hunter), 460, 579
Hymns of the Faith, 557, 581
Hymns of Grace and Glory, 485
Hymns of the Greek Church, 505
Hytnns of Holy Eastern Church, 505
Hymns of Intercession, 234
Hymns of the Kingdom of God, 584
Hymns of the Morning, 430
Hymns of Petition and Thanksgiving, 233
Hymns of Praise (Mote), 147
Hymns of Praise and Prayer (Martineau),
451. 578
Hytnns of Prayer and Praise (Refd. Dutch),
550
Hymns of the primitive Church (Chandler),
467, 496
Hvmns of the Sanctuary (Bartol), 464, 467
'(U. B.), 313
Hymns of the Spirit. 465, 578
Hymns of Spiritual Experience (Mason), 530
Hymns of Worship (Lord), 544
Hymns of Worship and Service, 584, 587
Hymns of Zion (Thomas), 425
Hymns on Believers' Baptism, 215
Hytnns on the Catechistn (Williams), 515
Hymns on different Spiritual Subjects, 200
Hymns on the Expected Invasion, 233
Hytnns on the great Festivals (Lampe), 240
Hymns on God's everlasting Love, 232
Hymns on the Lord's Supper (Wesleys'),
234, 251
Hytntis on a variety of divine .Subjects, 149
Hymns on various passages (Kelly), 441
Hymns original and selected, by W. P., 519
Hvtntis partlv collected, partly original
(Collyer), 128
Hytnns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs
(Graves), 203
Hytnns recommended for Ref Episc. Church,
548
Hytnns selected and original (Lutheran),
416, 417, 418, 419; Ed. 1852, 561
Hymns selected and arranged for Sutiday
schools (Krauth), 418
Hytnns selected and original for Sunday
schools (Passavant), 418
Hymns selected for the parish of Sandbach,
500
Hytntis selected for Trinity Church, Boston,
214, 306
Hymns suited to the Christian worship in
U. S. A., 188
Hytnns: suppletnental (Horder), 457
Hymns taken from Supplement to Tate
and Brady, 341
Hytnns translated from the German, 507
Hytnns translated from Parisian Breviary,
495
Hymns written in the time of tumults, 233
"Hymnus," viii
I
"I" and "we" hymns, 516
Immanuel's Land, 539
In Excelsis, SS5> s8o, 584
INDEX
609
Indel>endent, the, 458
Independents, see Congregationalists
Ingelo, Nathaniel, 78
Ingham, Benjamin, 223, 318, 325
Innocents, 553
Inspirational singing, 95, 427, 431
Inspired hymns vs. "hymns of human
composure," 22, 23, 109, no
Insti-umental music, 86, 87, 95, 171. i73.
i8s. 242, 243, 486, 533
Intercession (tune), 527
Introductory Essay to Olney Hymns (Mont-
gomery), 338 .
Inconsistency of several passages in Dr.
IVatts, 176
Intier Life of the Religious Societies of Ike
Commonwealth (Barclay), 9^^. 94. 95, 96
Inquiry into historical proofs (Gray), 355.
356
Introduction to the skill of music, 75
Introils and Chants for Margaret Chapel,
SOD
Introspective hymn, the, 214, 339
Invalid's Hymn Book, 519
Invocation of Saints, 570
Irons, William J., 516
Ireland: Church of, 512
Presbyterians in, 539, 540, 541, 542
Non-subscribing Presbyterians, 133, 135
Irving, Edward, 528
Isaac, Daniel, 243
Issues of Pennsylvania Press, 185, 199,
271. 359
Jackson, F., 165, 166
Jackson, Samuel, 264
Jackson, Thomas, 222, 223, 23s, 245. 268
Jacob, B., 327
Jacobi, J. C., 410
Jacobs, H. E., 410, 411, 412, 413, 419
Jacque, George, 537
James I, 47,^64. 66
James, William, 328
Jay, William, 127, 128
Jayne, Ebenezer, 200
Jenkins, E. Evans, 255
Jenks, A. S., 300
Jennings and Doddridge's Edition of Watts'
Works, 117
Jerks, the, 298
Jervis, Thomas, 134, 140
Johns, J., 140
Johnson, E. H., 559
Johnson, John T., 371
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, v, 115, 132, 341,
393. 440, 4SI
Johnson, Rev. Samuel, 463, 464, 466, 467,
468, 578
Jones, Abner, 296
Jones, Darius E., 473
Jones, Herbert, 322
Jones, J. Edmund, 512
Jones, Samuel, 200
Jones and Taylor's Collection, 322
Jonson, Ben, 64
Journals of General Conventions (Prot.
Episc), 390, 391. 392, 393. 394. 395,
396, 397. 399, 401
Journal of Presbyterian Historical Society,
vii, 114, 116, 166, 212
Journal of Theological Studies, 448
Jubilee Harp, 430
Judson, A., 365
Julian, J.: see Dictionary of Hymnology
K
Keach, Benjamin, 96, 97-100, 197
Keble, John, 251, 436, 444, 493. 495, 509,
S14. SIS. S30
Keblc, Thomas, 499
Keen, Robert, 359
Keiss, 157
Kelly, Thomas, 441
Kelso, 538
Kemble, Charles, 506
Kempthorne, J., 353
Ken, Thomas, 69, 206, 227, 251, 394
Ken, Thomas, Life of (Plumptre), 70
Kendal Hymn Book, 326
Kendall, T., 64
Kennedy, Benjamin H., 446
Kentucky: Psalmody controversy in, 190;
Revival, 291, 293, 296, 297, 370, 371
Kerr, R. P., 506
Keswick Convention, 520
Key, Francis S., 400
Kilham, A., 275
Killaloe, Bishop of, 356
Kimball, Jacob, 170
King's Primer, 38, 39, 41, 44
King, James, 25
Kingdom, hymns of the, 581
Kingsley, George, 479
King's Chapel, Boston, 175, .t6i, 466, 472
Kingswood, 230
Kinwelmarsh, F., 64
Kipling, Rudyard, vi, 569
Kippis, A., 132, 134, 140
Knapp, Albert, 263
Knapp, Elder, 365
Kneeland, Abner, 424
Knox, John, 26, 27
Koch, E. E., 263
Krauth, Charles P., 418
Krauth, Harriet R., 560, 561
Kunze, John C, 411, 412
La Trobe, C. I., 270, 274
Labourer's Noon-day Hymn, 436
Lacey, T. A., 569
Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, 319-325
Laing, D., 26, 33
Lambeth; Archepiscopal Library, 227
Lamentation, the, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 77
Lamentation over Boston, 169; over New
York, 432
Lampe, J. F., 240
Lamport, W., 140
Lancashire (tune), 527
Lancashire horn pipes, 239
Lanier, Sidney, 568
Landmarks of Evangelical Association, 314
"Large Hymn Book": Methodist, 236, 937;
Primitive Methodist, 276, 277
Later Poems (Chadwick), 472
Latham, H., 445
Lathbury, Mary A., 311
Latin Churc'n hymns: meaning of "hym-
nus," viii; see Office Hymns; Luther's
and Calvm's attitude toward, 22, 23;
absence from Prayer Book, 37-45;
long neglected, 44, 45; restored through
Oxford Movement, 403-497; trans-
lated, 317, 444, 495. 496, 502, siS.
537. 539, 543; in the churches, 444,
462, 465, 466, 475, 543. 552, 573
Laudes Domini, 554
Laud's Prayer Book, 47
Law, Andrew, 171, 192, 193
Law, William, 223
Lawfulness, excellence and advantage of
Instrumental Music, 185
Lawrence, Jo'nn, 90
Leavitt, Joshua, 376, 377, 378, 379
Lecture Room Hymn Book, 401, 402
Lectureships, London, 317, 329
6io
INDEX
Lectures, Essays and Sermons by S. Long-
fellow, 464
Ledmun, John, 281
Lee, Ann, 427
Lee, Robert, 533
Leeds: Brunswick Chapel, 243, 278; Se-
lection (1822), 128; Hymn Book, 454,
459
Leicester, 350
Leifchild, J., 453
Leith, 152
Lenox Collection (N. Y.), 226
Lesser Awakening, 372
Letter to Bishop of Oxford, 4Q9
Letter to clergy of Church of Unitas Fratrum,
269
Letter to Members of Congregational Union,
455
Letters from a Blacksmith, 159
Lewes, Presbytery of, 182
Leyden, loi
Liberal Hymnody: see Hymnody of the
Liberal Faith
Library of Religious Poetry, 553
Liddon, H. P., 499
Lieb, J. P., 314
Life of our Blessed Lord, 221
Lightwood, J. T., 240
Lilley, John D., 273
Lincoln, W., 165, 166
Lindsey, T., 133
Lining out the Psalm, 51, 75, 86, 104, 107,
144, 192, 207, 219
Linsley and Davis' Select Hymns, 363
Lisbon (tune), 170
Lisburn, 133
Litany hymns, 51 7
Litany with Suffrages (1544), 39
Literary History of Scotland, 160
Literary Hymn, the, 252, 437, 440, 445,
458, 469, 569
Literary movement, review of, 458, 459, 567
Literature and hjTnns, their relation; v,
vi, viii. Watts' view, 115, 252, 440;
Wesleys', 252, 253, 440; Johnson's,
440; Montgomery's, 441; Heber's, 438,
442; Martineau's, 449; Horder's, 457,
458
Littledale, R. F., 505. 514, SI7
Liturgical Hymn, the, 251, 252, 498, Sii,
S17
Liturgical movement; see chap. X; 570-574
Liturgical Question, the (Nevin), 548
Liturgies of Edward VI, 41
"Liturgy, the": see Prayer Book system
Liturgy (Ger. Refd.), 548
Liturgy and Hymns for Protestant Church
of U. B., 271, 272
Liturgy of New Church, 426
Livermore, A. A., 463, 468
Livennore, L. J., 471
Livermore, Sarah W., 468
Liverpool, Renshaw Street, 449
Liverpool Collection (1763), 175
Liverpool Liturgy, 133
Lives of the Poets (Johnson), 115, 132, 440
Livingston, John H., 404, 405, 408
Livingston, Neil, 33
Lloyd, Bishop, 495
Lock Collection. 330, 373
Lock Hospital, 329, 344
Logan, John, 151, 152, IS3
London Asylum, 344
Bentinck Chapel, 351
Booth's Mission, 485
Charities, 343
children, 219, 222, 34s
singing, 345, 357
Charter House, 53
Christ's Hospital, 436
City Road Chapel, 236
Devonshire Square (7th day Baptist),
100
Foundery, 147, 229, 239, 331
Fetter Lane Meeting, 227, 263, 318
Foundling Hospital, 344
Gordon Square, 529
Horsley-Down, 97
Jewin St., 213
King's Weigh House, 89, no
Lady Huntingdon's chapels, 320, 322,
323, 329
Leather Lane, 132
Lectureships, 317, 329
Lock Hospital, 329, 344
Loriner's Hall, 317
Magdalen Asylum, 345
Mare St. Meeting, 131
Margaret Chapel, 499, 500
Meeting of Ministers, 106
Moorfields, 229, 317
Moravians in, 227, 228, 263
Orange St. Chapel, 333
Proprietary chapels, 329
Regent Square, 526, 528
St. Alban's (Holborn), 504
St. James: German Chapel, 410
St. Margaret's, 443
St. Paul's, 345. 508
Surrey Chapel, 327
Tabernacle: Whitefield's, 213, 317, 318;
Spurgeon's, 452
Tate and Brady, used in, 219
Temple, 75
Union Chapel, 456, 508, 522
West End Evangelicalism, 329, 344
Westminster Abbey, 447
Y. M. C. A., 483
London (Smart's tune), 527
Londonderry, 133
Long Island, North Classes of, 407
Long metre, 39
Longfellow, H. W., 466, 468
Longfellow, Samuel, 442, 463, 464, 466,
467, 4(>S, 469, 471, 578, 579
Longfellow. Sa?nuel (May), 464
Lord, Willis, 544
Lord's Prayer versified, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33,
34. 36, 77
Loriner's Hall, 317
Love, W. de L., 202
Lowell, Charles, 174
Lowell, J. R., 464, 468
Lowrie, Robert, 57
Lowry, Robert, 484
Loy, M., 420
Lunt, W. P., 461, 462, 468, 471
Luther, Martin, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 31,
55, 205, 266; influence in England, 25,
31, 42; hymn against Turks, 31;
Lord's Prayer, 31
Lutheran Church (U. S.):
1756-1859, English Hymns in, 410-420
1 863-1 899, the more churchy period,
560-563
Lutheran Church Review, 560
Luther's Spiritual Songs, 507
Lux Benigna, 520
Lynch, T. Toke, 108, 454, 455, 579
Lynch, T. Toke, Memoir of (White), 108
Lyon, James, 170, 184
Lyra Apostolica, 514, 515
Lyra Catholica, 465, 501, 544
Lyra Davidica, 346
Lyra Germanica, 507
Lyra Innocentium, 514
Lyric Studies, 277, 278
Lyte, Henry F., 444
Lyte, Henry P., Remains of, 444
Lyth, J., 255
INDEX
6u
M
McCheyne, R. M., 537
Macclesfield, 33s
McClure, David, 366
McConnell, S. D., 396, 400
McCrie, Charles G., a, 154, 530, 532, 534
McCrie, Thomas, 130
McCron, Dr., 418
McDonald, W., 300, 309, 311
McDonnold, B. W., 297, 556
Macduff, John R., 537
Macgill, Hamilton, 531, 537
McGlothlin, W. J., 197
McGrananan, James, 487, 490
McGready. James, 291
McHart, WUliam, 381
Maclagan, D. J., 57, 58, 59, 148, 151, 152,
IS4
Maclagan, W. D., 517
Macleod, Norman, 537
Macmillan, D., 588
Macmillans' tlagazine, 447
McNemar, Richard, 428
McNemar, Richard, Life of, 428
Madan, M., 329. 330, 331. 335. 359, 373.
513
Maggots, 220
Magnificat, 28, 34, 77
Magnificat, the, 563
Manning, President, 196
Mant, Richard, 467, 496, S14, 51S, 516
Manual of Christian Psalmody, 363, 379
Manual of Prayers (Ken), 69, 70
Manual of Praise (Oberlin), 557
Manual of United Brethren Publishing
House, 312, 313
Many-sided Franklin, the (Ford), 162
Marckant, John, 206
Mare St. Meeting, 131
Marlborough College, 445, 446
Marlow, Isaac, 98, 99
Marot, Clement, 46, 205
Marshall, Julia Ann, 519
Marshall's Primer, 38
Martin. George C, 512
Martin, Samuel, 153
Martineau, Harriet, 140
Martineau, James, 87, 133. 13s, 436, 449,
450, 451. 452, 578, 579;
on Wesley, 249; on hymns, 449
Martineau, James, Life and Letters of,
249
Maryland: German Reformed Classes of,
409; Methodism in, 394, 397
Maryland, my Maryland, 310
Maskell's Monumenta ritualia, 38
Mason, A. J., 518
Mason, Caroline A., 468
Mason, Jackson, 518
Mason, John, 71, 105, 206
Mason, Lowell, 172, 310, 363, 377, 378,
379, 473. 475. 477. 479. 550
Mason, William, 530
Mason and Patton's Christian Psalmist,
388
Massachusetts Pastoral Association, 389
Massie, Richard, 507
Materials for a History of the Baptists in
Delaware, 197
Materials for a History of the Baptists in
Pennsylvania, 198
Mather, Cotton, 162
Matins and Vespers, 436
Matheson, George, 538, 588, 589
Matheson, George, Life of, 588
Mattison, H., 301
Maude, Mary F., 517
Maurice, Peter, 520
Maxfield, T., 322
May, Joseph, 464
Mayhew, Jonathan, 173
Mearns, James, 58, 116, 156
Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences, 502
Medley, Samuel, 215
Meeting houses, Presbyterian, 85
Main, John, 360
Melita (tune), 521
Melville, Andrew, 34
Melville, James, 34
Memorial Sermon (Eddy), 197, 198
Memoirs of Hymn Writers (Gadsby), 331
Memoirs of Protestant Episcopal Church
(White), 390, 392, 393. 395. 396, 399
Mennonites, 91, 92, 368
Mercer, Jesse, 203
Mercer, William, 508
Mercersburg theology, 548
Merton (tune), 471
Messiah (Handel), 324
Messiter, A. H., 547
Methodist Discipline, 284
Methodist Free Church Hymns, 279
Methodist Harmonist, 290
Methodist Hymn Book (Canadian), 280
(English, 1904), 221, 237, 27s, 279, 280,
304
Methodist Hymn Book and its associations
(Stevenson), 237
Methodist Hymn Book illustrated (Telford),
230, 231, 237
Methodist Hymnal (1905), 304, 568
Methodist Hymnology (Creamer), 231, 246,
291, 333
Methodist Pocket Hymn Book, 289
Methodist Protestant Church Hymnal, 309
Methodist Quarterly Revieiv, 290, 291, 293,
301, 476
Methodist Review, 364
Methodist Social Hymn Book, 300
Methodist Tune Book, 280
Methodists:' England: the name "Method-
ist," 222
the "reproach of Methodism," 258
Wesleyan, see Wesleyan Methodism
Calvinistic in Wales, 232, 324
Methodist New Connexion, 275, 279
Primitive Methodists, 275, 280
Camp Meeting Methodists, 275
Protestant Methodists, 243, 278
Wesleyan Methodist Association, 278
Wesleyan Reformers, 279
United Methodist Free Churches,
279
United Methodist Church, 279
Bible Christians, 279
Australasia, 280
Canada, 280
United States: Beginnings, 281, 394
Wesley's effort to control the worship,
281
Methodist Episcopal Church, 282
Its hymnody, 283, 284
1784-1848, 28s
Camp meeting hymns (1800), 291,
3ir
1847-1905, 298
Meth. Episc. Church, South, 299, 302,
304
Reformed Methodist Church, 305
Methodist Society, 306
African Methodist Episcopal Church,
306
African M. E. Zion Church, 307
Methodist Protestants, 307
Methodist Church, 309
Wesleyan Methodist Connection, 310
Free Methodists, 310
Review of American Methodist Hym-
nody, 310
hymn- writers, 311
6l2
INDEX
Metres: of O. V., 207, 208; N. V., 208,
254; Watts, 207, 20S, 2S4; Wesleys,
213, 254; C. M., 207; L. M., 39, 207;
S. M., 207; old 148th, 207; 7s, 39;
trochaic, 39, 254; iambric, 39. 254;
particular, 127, 207, 254; Pindaric,
114
Metrical Psalm, the; as God's Word it-
self, 23
Versified for popular singing, 23
as the substitute for hymns of human
composure, 24
a utilitarian, not poetic, device, 46
Metrical Psalmody: instituted by Calvin,
22, 23
on Scriptural grounds, 23
the only Church Song of Reformed
Churches, vii, 23
adopted by English-speaking Churches,
25
Out of it grew their modern Hymn smg-
ing, 45
to trace which growth is the theme of
this book, ix
Miami Conference, 477
Middlesex Collection, 171
Midnight Cry, the, 428
Mildmay Conference, 519
Miles, Sarah .E., 468
Millar, J. H., 160
Millard, D., 480
Millard, J. E., 516
Millennial Harp, 429
Millennial Praises, 427
Miller, Emily H., 312
Miller, H., 363
Miller, H. Thane, 484
Miller, John (Prebsyterian), 182
Miller, John (Moravian), 273
Miller, Josiah, 317, 321, 453
Miller, Samuel, Life of (S. Miller), 182
Miller, William, 428, 429
Mills, Henry, 417, 543
Milman, Henry Hart, 436, 438, 439. 443
Milner, Thomas, 106, 113, 123, 132
Milton, John, 64
Ministry of Taunton, 161
Minstrelsy, Early, 19
Minutes of Committee of Citizens (Phila-
delphia), 192
Minutes of Conferences (Meth.), 239, 241,
242, 243
Minutes of General Assembly (Pres. Ch. in
U. S. A.), 194. 380, 381, 382, sss;
(New School Branch), 384, 385, 386
Minutes of Methodist Confer eyices in Amer-
ica, 285
Minutes of Philadelphia Baptist Associa-
tion, 197, 200
Minutes of several conversations (Coke), 283
Miss Hataway's Experience, 203
Missal, 70, SOI, 502
Mitchell, A. P., 26: Edward, 424
Missionary Herald, 375
Missionary Hymnody, beginnings of, 324,
353. 375
Moderates, the, 153
Monk, W. H., SIC, 521, 523. 535. 542
Monsell, J. S. B., 513, 515, 5i7
Montgomerie, Alexander, 47
Montgomery, James, 205, 255, 271, 272,
274. 338, 355, 3S6, 436, 441, 450, 451.
453. S08
Montgomery, James, Memoir of, 271
Monthly Christian Spectator, 454
Monthly Miscellany, 462
Monumenta ritualia Eccl. Angl., 38
Moody, Dwight L., 484, 485. 488, 490, 492
Moody, Dwight L., Life of (W. R. Moody),
48s
Moody and Sankey, 96, 378, 486-492, 567
Moody and Sankey, Lives of (Nason), 484
Moore, Henry, 140
Moore, Thomas, 435, 436, 438, 439, 451
Moorfields, 229, 317
Moorsom, R. M., 505
Moravians: 153; the German Hymnody, 262
1741-1754, the eccentric period, 262-270
1789-1901, the normal period, 270-274
Moravians and Wesley, 224, 227, 228,
263, 267
Moravian hymn writers, 273
Moravian singing, 224, 273
Moravian type of Hymn, 265
More, H., 224
Morgan, D. T., 517
Morgan, E., 324
Morgan, John, 113
Morgan, R. C; his Life and Work (G. C.
Morgan), 485
Morgan, Thomas, 134
Morisons, the, 459
Mormons: 1830-1891, 431-434
Morning Advertiser, 454, 455
Morning and Evening Services (New
Church), 529
Morning Hymn Book, 237
Morning Light, 344
Mote, E., 147
Moule, H. C. G., 520
Moulton, T. C, 481
Moultrie, G., 517
Mountain, J., 520
Muhlenberg, H. M., 410
Muhlenberg, William A., 398, 400, 439, 545
Muhlenberg, William A., Life and Work of
(Ayres), 398, 399
Murch, J., 89
Murlin, John, 254
Murphy, Andrew C, S40
Murray, F. H., 509
Murray, James O., 553
Murray, John, 439
Murray, Rev. John, 421, 422, 423
Murray, Robert, 543
Murray, W. Rigby, 527
Music and Hymnody of the Methodist Hym-
nal, 289, 299, 304
Music Hall Hymnody, 298
Music in America (Ritter), 170, 378
Music of the Church Hymnary (Cowan and
Love), 542
Musical Ministries in the Church, 489
Musical Pastels, 170
Mussey, M. B. H.. 586
Myers, P. D., 296
N
Narrative and Testimony (Genl. Assoc), 154
Nason, Elias, 476, 484
Nazareth Town (Chadwick), 472
Neal, Daniel, 103
Neale, John Mason, 443, 445, 497, 500,
SOI, S16
Neale, John Mason (Towle), 501
Neale, R. H., 204
Needham, John, 215
Negative theology, 579
Nelson, Earl, 68, 509, SI3
Neshaminy, 186, 192
Nettleton, A., 366, 375, 376
Nevin, John W., 548
Nevin, John Williamson, Life and Work of,
548
Neue und verbesserte Gesangbuch, 409
Neues Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch, 225, 240
New and Improved Camp Meeting Hymn
Book, 296
Neiu and large Collection of Hymns and
Psalms, 143
INDEX
613
New and most complete Collection of camp,
social and prayer-meeting Hymns, 297
New Christian Hymn and Tune Book, 372
New Church Hymnody: England, 1790-
1880, 344, 529
America, 1792-1830, 426
1863-1911. 563
New Church Magazine, 344
New composition of Hymns and Poems, 142
New Collection of Psalms (Enfield), 132
New Congregational Hymn and Tune Book
(Nason), 476
New Congregational Hymn Book (1859),
454. 459
New England: 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers
bring Ainsworth's Psalter, loi
1640, the Massachusetts Bay Colony
print the Bay Psalm Book; q. v.
Psalmody controversy in, 102, 161
decay of Psalmody in, 161
Watts and his "Psalm for New England,"
162
Great Awakening in, 163, 198, 358
1742-1791, introduction of Watts' "Sys-
tem," 163-166
1770, new school of church music, 169
17 78-1 800, its spread over New England,
170-172
Baptists in, 196, 203, 204, 362, 363
Lesser Awakening in, 372, 375
New England Magazine, 471
Ne^v England Psalm Singer, 169
New England Puritan, 389
New Englander, 167, 388, 389
New History of Book of Common Prayer
(Procter), 41
New History of Methodism, 237, 243, 27s,
276, 278, 286, 289, 30s, 308
New Hosanna, 564
New Hymn and Tune Book (African Meth.),
307
(Phillips), 300, 307
(Unitarian), 578
New Hymn Book (Genl. Bapt.), 452
(M. E. So.), 302
(Streeter), 424
New Hymns (Bumham), 200, 215
New Hymns for Youth, 383
New Hymns on various subjects (Ballou), 423
New Jubilee Harp, 430
New Latides Domini, 554, 580
New Light Baptist churches, 198
New Light Movement, 296
New Manual of Praise (Oberlin), 557
New Office Hymn Book, 570
New Providence, N. C, 189
New Psalms and Hymns (So. Pres.), 556
New School, see Presbyterian
New Selection of Hymns (Collier), 201
(Dobell), 128
(Part. Bapt.), 146, 452
(Stevens), 146
New Selection of Psalms, Hymns and Spir-
itual Songs (Miller), 363
New Side churches, 179, 180, 182
New Supplement (to Wesley's Collection),
237, 523
New Theology, the, and its Hymnody, 578
New Version of the Psalms of David, fitted
to the tunes used in churches (Tate and
Brady) :
its allowance and reception, 48-50, 90
its influence on Hymnody, 50, 79, 81,
341, 345-348
Supplement to, with hymns, 80, 341,
346-348
in New England, 165, 172, 173, 174, I75
Wesley's use of, 224, 227
in the Protestant Episcopal Church, 390,
393. 394. 395
in the Reformed Dutch Church, 402
in American Baptist Churches, 197
New York: Brick Church, 553
Christ Church and Trinity, 411
Dutch Reformed Church, 402
Finney in, 376
First Baptist Church, 201
German Lutheran Church, 410, 412
Methodist meetings in, 281
Pratts' Lamentation over, 432
Presbyterian Church; Psalmody dispute,
179; bad singing of, 184, 185
Public Library, 116, 226; Lenox Collec-
tion, 226
Scotch Church, 180
Synod of (Luth.), 413, 414; (Presbyn.),
180
Synod of N. Y. and Philadelphia, 182,
183, 187, 188, 189
Trinity, 547
Zion (P. E.), 414
Zion's, 412
New York Collection (Luth.), 414, 416
New York Observer, 476
Newburyport, 166, 180, 360
Newcastle, Presbytery of, i8r
Newell. William, 468
Newman, A. H. (.Hist, of Bapt. churches),
196
Newman, Cardinal, 464, 494, 496, 499, 514
517. 518, 520
Newman, John, 89, 90
Newport, 196
Newton, Mass., 165, 166
Newton, James, 144
Newton, John, 336-340; and see Olney
Hymns
Newton, John (Bull), 337
Newton, John, Memoir of (Cecil), 345
Nicholson, Isaac, 323
Nitschman, David, 224
Niven, G. T., 542
Noel, Caroline M., 517
Noel, G. T., 353
Nonconformist Theology, 455
Non-subscribing Presbyterians, 130; in
Ireland, 133, 135
"Non-Trinitariar churches," 174
Norden, John, 64
Norris of Bemerton, 224, 227
North Carolina, Psalmody controversy in,
189, 190
North Family (Shaker), 428
North, Frank M., 312
North ]]'estn-n Hymn Book, 484
Northampton (Mass.), 163, 358
Notes and Queries, 66, 260, 261
Noyes, Charles L., 580
Nunc Dimittis, 27, 28, 34, 77
Nutter, Charles S., 302, 304
Nyberg, L. T., 273
Nye, Philip, 102, 103
O'Bryan, William, 279
Oakeley. E., 518
Oakeley, Sir H., 528
Obcilin, 557
Observations upon Metrical Versions of the
Psalms, 356. 357
Occom, Samson, 202
Odenheimer and Bird's Songs of the Spirit,
159
Office, the Divine (Office Hymns), vm, 19,
22, 23, 24, 37, 38, 39. 40, 41, 42, 44, 45,
494. 495, 496, 497. 498, 499, 500, 504.
509, 511, 543
Office Hymn Book, 513
Offices of Worship with Hymns, 272
Oglethorpe, Governor, 223
6i4
INDEX
Ohio, Joint Synod of, 419
O'Kelley, James, 296
Old and New. 423
Old Church Psalmody (Havergal), 513, 520
Old Granite State, 429
Old Redstone, 191
Old-Side churches, 179, 182
Old South: Boston, 165, 166; Portsmouth,
166
Old Version (Sternhold and Hopkins'): 28,
48, so, 54, 62, 340, 390; its appended
hymns, 27-32, 84; musical settings of,
76, 77
Oldknow, Joseph, 500
Oliver, H. K., 471
Olivers, Thomas, 254
Olney Hymns, v, 336, 337. 338, 339. 340,
349. 372, 373, 376, 437
Olney revival, 337, 373
Omnipresence of God, 436
Onderdonk, H. U., 399, 400
One and fiftie Psalmes of David, 28
One hundred Gospel Hymns, 149
Oneida Presbytery, 376
Order of Worship (Ger. Refd.), 549
(New Church), 426
Ordinal, the, 40, 43
Organs: destruction of under Common-
wealth, 75; Scottish, 486, 5331 Method-
ist, 243; Boston, 86, 173; Philadelphia,
185; Gloucester, Mass., 421
Origin and Annals of Old South, Newbury-
port, 180
Original Hymns (Leif child), 453
Original music (Haweis), 325
Original Secession Magazine, 35
Origines Liturgicae, 494
Orthodox Christian, 98
Orton, Job, 211
Osborn, George, 226, 227
Osgood, Samuel, 465, 467
Osier, Edward, 516
Olterbein Hymnal, 313
Our Hymns and their Authors (Tillett), 303
Outlook, the, 580
Overton, J. H., 315
Oxford Essays, 348
Oxford Hymn Book, 64, 65, 569
Oxford Methodists (Tyerman), 264, 266
Oxford Movement, 45, 444, 44s, 447. 493.
chap. X
Oxford University and the Wesleys, 222, 223
Oxford University Press Psaltei'S, 347
Padelford, F. M., 20
Palatinate Liturgy, 548
Palgrave, F. T., 517
Palmer, George H., 570
Palmer, Ray, 379. 38s, 544
Palmer. Sir Roundell (Lord Selborne), vii,
69, 446
Palmer, Samuel, 132
Palmer, William, 494
PanopUsl, the, 175
Paraphrase on the Psalms of David in
metre (Baxter), 70, 84
Paraphrase upon the Psalms of David
(Sandys), 48
Paraphrases: see Translations and
Paraphrases and Hymns, 526
Paraphrases of Prayer Book materials in
the Psalters, 30; of Bible songs, etc.,
5Sff.
Parish Choir, 521
Parish Clerk, 51, 75, 342
Parish Hymn Book, 513
Parish Hvmnal (Monsell), 513
(Tucker), 546
Parish Hymns, 384, 386, 476
Parish Psalmody, 384, 385, 386
Park, Edwards A., 475
Parker, Archbishop, 47
Parker, Horatio, 547
Parker, James, 360
Parker, Jane M., 429
Parker, Noah, 421
Parker, Theodore, 464, 468
Parkinson, W., 201, 202, 203
Parks, Stephen, 300
Parlor music period, 557
Parochial Music corrected, 344
Parr, H., 520
Particular Baptists: see Baptists
Passavant, W. A., 418
Pastor's Selection, 477
Partick, John, 52, 55, 88, 89. 123
Patrick, Simon, 53, 87
Patten, Simon N., 586
Paul, St., 8s, 112, 242
Pawluckct Collection, 203
Peabody, A. P., 174, 175
Peabody, W. B. O., 461, 468
Peace, A. L., 535
Pearson, C. B., 348
Pearson, John, Jr., 430
Peck, J. M., 203
Peirce, James, 86, 130
Penitential Cries, 105
Pennefather, William, 519
Penn Monthly, 561
Penney, Norman, 95
Pennsylvania Gazette, 164
Pennsylvania Historical Society, i8s, 271
Pennsylvania Magazine of History, 197
Pennsylvania, Ministerium of, 416, 560
Penrose, C. W., 433
People's Hymnal, 505, 514, 525: (See 313)
Pepys' Diary, 75
Perfection, doctrine of, 232
Perkins and Purves, 384
Perry, William S., 390, 397
Pestell, T., 68
Peterborough, Bishop of, 354, 356
Petition for Peace, 83
Phelps, Austin, 475
Phelps, W. W., 432
Philadelphia: Association, 197, 200, 362
Baptisterion, 198
Baptists at, 197
Christ Church, 344, 390, 393
First Baptist Church, 422
Moody at, 487
Moravians, 271, 272
Music schools, 184, 185, 192
Presbytery of, 183
Race St. Church, 410
St. Andrew's, 398
St. George's, 281
St. James the Less, 545
St. John's, 413
St. Paul's organ, 185
Second New Church, 426
Second Presbyterian, 182, i8s
Synod of, 182
Third Presbyterian, 191, 193
Unitarianism, 176
Universal Baptists in. 199, 367
Whiteficld at, 280, 3S8
Zinzcndorf at, 271
Philadell'hia Harmony, 193
Philadelphia Hymn Book. 424
Philliniorc, Ci., 515
Phillips, Philip, 300, 301, 484, 48s. 486
Philos Harmoniae, 428
Philpot, J. C, 146, 331
Pierpont, John, 468
Pietistic Hymnody, 224, 225
Piggin, Henry, 275
Pilgrim Fathers, 101
INDEX
615
Pilgrim Hymnal, 558, 580-583, 584
Pilgrijn Songs for Sunday schools, 580
Pilgrim Songster, 295
Pilgrim's Song, 317
Pindar, 114
Pious Communicant, 221
"Pious, for the," 295; "pious moderation,"
453. 457
Pious Songs, 297
Pirie, Alexander, 156
Pitman, Charles, 297
Plain song, see Tunes, Gregorian
Playford, Henry, 78
Playford, John, 75-78
Plea for Christian Hymns, 398
Plumptre, E. H., 70, 516
Plymouth Brethren, 507
Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, 473, 474
Plymouth Church, History of, 474
Plymouth Collection, 268, 365, 474, 476,
477, 478, 544. 558
Plymouth Hymnal, 482, 489, 558, 580
Pocket Hymn Book (Spence), 238, 287
(Wesley, 1785), 238, 287, 288
(Wesley, 1787), 238, 287
(American), 287, 288, 292
Poems (J. D. Carlyle), 435
Poems chiefly religious (Lyte), 444
Poems of Home and Country (Smith), 365
Poems of Thomas H. Stockton, 308
Poems on sacred subjects (Marshall), 519
Poems on sacred subjects (Toplady), 334
Poems on subjects chiefly devotional (Steele),
213
Poet of the Sanctuary (Conder), 89, 129
Poetical fragments (Baxter), 53, 70, los
Poetical Hymn, the; see Hymn
Poetical hymnal, the; see Hymnal
Poetical Psalter, 46, 47, 444
Poets of the Church (Hatfield), 553
Polemical Hymn, the, 209, 232, 294, 323,
335
Pollock, T. B.. 517
PoUok, R., 436
Pontifical, the, 37
Pope, Alexander, 221
Pope, Michael, 132
Poplar Tent, 189
Portland, 202
Portland Collection, 481, 482
Portsmouth, N. H., 166
Portus, G. v., 343
Potts, P., 518
Practical Discourses of Singing, 89, 107, 108,
109, no
Praise, 572, 589
Praise Services, 484
Praise Songs, 490
Pratt, Josiah, 506
Pratt, Parley P., 432, 433
Pratt, Waldo S., 489
Pray, Lewis G., 461, 468
Prayer after the Commandments, 29, 33,
34. 77
Prayer before Sermon, 29
Prayer Book: see Book of Common Prayer;
Canticles
Absence of the Office Hymn, 37-45, 494
hymns within its covers, 348, 349
Prayer Book Collection, 401
Prayer Book System of worship:
Psalmody no part of it, 26, 30, 83, 391
Otherwise in Prot. Episc. Church, 391
Hymnody introduced independently of
it, 336, 340
Efforts to accommodate Hymnody to it,
351. 353. 354. 357. 494ff.
•Prayer Meeting and Revival Hymn Book, 369
Prayers and Meditations (Dr. Johnson), v
Prayers for the dead, 570
Prentiss, Elizabeth P., 557
Preparation for Death, 234
Preparation to the Psalter, 47
Presbyterian (Philada.), 382, 383, 483
Presbyterian Alliance, 1892, 541
Presbyterian and Reformed Review, 542
Presbyterian Board of Publication, 554
Presbyterian Book of Praise (Canada),
543
Presbyterian Church in Canada:
1880-1897, its hymnals, 541, 543
Presbyterian Church in Ireland:
1830-1895, unauthorized hymns, 539, 540
1895-1898, adopts the common hymnal,
541. 542
non-subscribing Presbyterians, 133, 135
Presbyterian Church in U. S. A.:
1739-1827, 177-196
as Psalm singers, 177
"Watts" introduced at Great Awaken-
ing, 179
opposition and controversy, 179-183,
186-191
1788, Hymns in the new Directory, 191
musical movements, 184-186, 192-193
"Barlow's Watts" predominates, 193,
195
relations with Connecticut Congrega-
tionalism, 167, 374
share in the Kentucky revival, 291, 297
1790-1832, era of revival hymn books,
372-380
1828-1857, Era of "Psalms and Hymns,"
380-388
Old School, 382: New School, 383
the hymn singing of the '40s, 3S6
1855, movement for congregational sing-
ing, 473. 477-480
1866-1915, modem influences, 551-557,
584
Presbyterian Church in U. S. (Southern),
1866-1915. 479. 555
Presbyterian Hymnal (Free), 531, 537, 541,
542
(Canada), 543
(U. S. A.), 552-554
Hymnal, the (1866), 551; (1895). S5S
(1911), 584
(United), 527, 531
Presbyterian Psalmodist, 383
Presbyterians (England):
see Puritans
at Westminster Assembly, 60, 102
1 66 1 at Savoy Conference, 82
1671-1708, movement to introduce
hymns, 83-90, 103, 104, 105
1708-1S36 Era of Watts and Arianism,
130, 131, 142
1837-1915 Hymn singing era, 525-528
Presbyterians (Scotland): see Scotland,
Church of; United Presbyterian
Church; Free Church; Relief Church
Prevost, Sir John, 49s
Price, Carl P., 289, 299, 304: Samuel, 113
Priestly, Joseph, 133, 134, 137. 176
Primer, the: Sarum, 38; Marshall's, 38;
King's, 39, 41; 1553. 41. 42; Eliza-
beth's, 42; 1604, 43', 161S, 43; 1685,
44; 1706, 44
Primer, or OJice of B. V. Mary (1706), 44
Primitive Methodist Hymn Book, 277
Primitive Methodist Hymnal, 278
Primitive Methodists, 275-278
Prince Thomas, 165
Princeton : bad singing at Nassau Hall, 1S4
Princeton Review, 387
Princeton Theological Review, vii
Princeton Theological Seminary, vii, x
Private Prayers of Queen Elizabeth, 39
Proby, W. H. B., 506
6i6
INDEX
Proceedings and Debates: Free Church, 536
Proceedings: Massachusetts Historical So-
ciety. 162. 163, 164
Procter and Frere's New History of Book
of Common Prayer, 41
Promiscuous Singing, 91
Proper tunes, 29
Proposed Book (Prot. Epis.), 390, 39i, 548
Prose hymns, viii
Pi-otestant Church Song, ix, 19-24
Protestant Episcopal Church:
1786, introduction of hymn singing,
390-396
1789-1858, the Evangelical penod, 396-
402
1859-191S, the Hymns ancient and mod-
ern period, 544-54S
hymn-writers, 400
social service hymns in, 587
Protestant Methodists, 243, 278
Proud, Joseph, 426, 529
Providence, R. I., 196
Prynne, George R., 516
Prynne, William, 44
Psalm: see Metrical Psalm
Psalm for New England (Watts), 162
Psalm Singer's Assistant, 173
Psalm-Versions, Paraphrases and Hymns,
536
Psalmes of David in meeter (Boyd), 57
Psalmist, the, 364. 36s
Psalmodia Germanica, 410, 411
"Psalmody," 24, 25
Psalmody: see Metrical Psalmody
Psalmody, the, 367
Psalmody of the Calvinistic Reformation, vii
"Psalmody Controversy" (Presbyterian),
186-191
"Psalmody of the Reformed Churches,"
vii
Psalms adapted lo the public worship of
the Christian Church (Presbyn.), 381
Psalms and Hymns (Alford), 518
(E. Bickersteth) , 512
(E. H. Bickersteth), 506
(Cumberland), 556
(German Refd.), 409
(Part. Baptist). 452
(Presbyn., 1831), I9S. 374. 38i, 382,
409
(Presbyn., 1843). 374. 382, 383. 386,
388: (So. Presbvn.), 555
(Refd. Dutch), 407
(Sartain), 323
(Toplady), 323, ii'i
(Venn), 350
(Walker), 507
Psalms and Hymns adapted to the Services
(Hall), 500
"Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs"
(St. Paul), 23, 8s
Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs
(Deck), S07
(Robinson), 479, 554. 555
Psalms and Hymns collected by W. B.
Cadogan, 350
Psalms and Hymns for the chapel of the
Asylum, 344
Psalms and Hymns for Christian use and
worship (Conn. Assn.), 389
Psalms and Hymns for divine worship (Engl.
Pres.), 526
Psalms and Hymns for Marlborough Col-
lege, 445, 446
Psalms and Hymns for New Meeting,
Birmingham, 134
Psalms and Hymns for public, private and
social worship (Elliott), 519
Psalms and Hymns for . . . Rugby School
Chapel, 445
Psalms and Hymns in solemn music, 75
Psalms and Hymns, original and selected
(Simpson), 500
Psalms and Hymns partly original (Russell),
S07
Psalms and Hymns selected chiefly for public
worship (Evans), 146
Psalms and Hymns selected for the Churches
of Buckden, 354. 357
Psalms and Hymns, the greater part original
(Hum), 353
Psalms and Hymns with the catechism, etc.
(Refd. Dutch), 405
Psalms carefully suited to the Christian
worship in U. S. A., 188
Psalms, Hymns and Anthems (Foundling
Hospital), 344
Psalms, Hymns and passages of Scripture
(Leeds), 454
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Camp-
beU), 370, 371
(Hammond), 273, 317
(Scotch Bapt.), 158
(Universalist), 423
(Prince rev.), 165, 166
Psalms in metre selected from the Psalms of
David (Prot. Episc), 401, 545
"Psalms in worship, the" (Daggett), 167
Psalms of David (Cecil) , 330
Psalms of David and other portions of the
sacred Scriptures (Woodd), 351
Psalms of David imitated (Watts), 53, 90,
118-120
Psalms of David imitated, etc. A new
edition (Dwight), 167
Psalms of David in meeter (1650), 36, 47,
61, 86, 142, 526: in America (known
as "Rous' Version"), 178, 179, 183,
184, i88, 189. 190, 191, 193. 533
Psalms of David in metre fitted to the tunes,
etc. (Patrick), 54
Psalms of David translated into lyric verse
(Wither), 47
Psalms of David versified (Winchester), 422
Psalms of David with Hymns and Spiritual
Songs (Ref. Dutch), 404
Psalms of David with the Ten Command-
ments, etc. (Ref. Dutch), 402
Psalms of King David translated by King
James, 47
Psalms . . . or Hymns founded on some
important passages of Holy Scripture,
156
Psalter and Hymn*Book, the (Hamilton), 526
Psalter, the (Keble), 444
Psalters: the English and Scottish Reforma-
tion Psalters, 26-37; Latin, 30
Public School Hymnody, 44s
Public Worship of God (Gibson), 533
Public Worship of Presbyterian Scotland
(McCrie), 33, IS4. S30, 532, 534
Publication of Hymns, 326
Punshon, W. M., 255
Puritans, 27, 47, 56, 74. 82, 83. loi, 102,
103, 161; and Prayer Book Canticles,
31, 55. 56, 84
Pusey, E. B., 499
Putnam, A. P., 469
Quakers; see Friends
Quarles. Francis, 66
Quarterly Review, 443
Quarterly Review of Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, 299
Quartet and Chorus Choir, 479
Quignon's Breviary, 40, 41
Quinn, James, 207
Quincy, Mass., 462
Quitman, F. H., 414
INDEX
617
Rambles about Portsmouth, 166
Randall, B., 366
Rankin, Adam (Rankinites), 190
Rankin, J., 535
Rapin's History of England, 315
Rational Illustration of the Book of Common
Prayer. 56
Ravenscroft, Thomas, 56, 76
Rawson, George, 452
Reasonableness of Regular Singing, 161
Records of the Church of Christ meeting in
Broadmead, 96, 97, 99
Records of Presbyterian Church, 178, 180,
182, 183, 187. 189
Redhead, R., 521
Redstone Presbytery, 191
Reed, Andrew, 128, 453
Reed, Daniel, 170
Reed and Rlatheson's Narrative of Visit
to the American Churches, 388
Rees, A., 134
Reform of Church of Scotland (Lee), 333
Reformation breach in public worship, the,
20
Reformed Church Hymnal, 549
Reformed Church in America (Demarest),
404, 406
Reformed Church in Pennsylvania (Dubbs),
40S
Reformed Chvirch in U. S.: see German
Reformed
Reformed Dutch Church:
1767, first English Psakn Book, 402
1787-1868, English hjTnns in, 403-408
1S68-1891, the later H>Tnnody, 550, 551
Reformed Episcopal Church:
England, 513; United States, 548
Reformed Liturgy (Baxter's), 82. 84
Reformed Methodist Church, 305
Reformed ileiltodist Pocket Hymn Book, 305
Regent Square: Church, 527, 528; tune, 527
Regular Hymns (Willard), 460
Regular Singing, 161, 162
Reinagle. A. R., 521
Rejoice Evermore, 158
Relief Church, 154, 155, 530, 531
Religious Monitor, 382
Religious Societies, 343
"Religious Musings" (Coleridge), 435
Reliquiae Juveniles, 121
RcUy, John, 3317
Relly, James, 327, 421, 422, 423, 424
Remnants of Time, 121
Renderings of Church Hymns, 505, 506
Report on Congregational Singing (Luth.),
418
Report of Committee on Hymn Book (Meth.),
304
Repton School, 44s
Restoration (1660): parochial Psalmody re-
stored, 73; denominational divisions,
74; attempts at h>inn writing, 68, 71;
movement toward hymn singing, 75,
217
Revelation, the, quoted, 319
Revieu) arid Expositor, 429
Review of a pamphlet entitled "Tlie Church
Paslmist," 383, 385, 386, 387
Review of Rivulet Controversy, 454
Revised Psalter (Engl. Pres.), 528
Revised Edition of Scottish Metrical Psalms,
539
Revision of Hymn Book of Metltodisl Epis-
copal Church, 287, 302
Revival: of 1800, 291, 292, 294, 296;
Evangelical, 315; Great Awakening,
q. v.; Lesser Av.akening, 372; Method-
ist, 228; Moody and Sankey, 4S7;
Olney, 337; Oneida Co., N. Y., 376
Revival, Era of (1790-1832), 372
Revival Hymn, the, 248, 252, 337, 483;
see Camp Meetings, the Gospel Hymn;
Nettleton's judgment of, 376; Leavitt's,
377; Pratt's, 489
Revival Hymn Book (Weaver), 483
Revolution (1688), 85, 104
Revolutionary War, 169, 170, 183, 186,
360, 372
Reynolds, Thomas, 89, 90
Reynolds, W. M., 417, 420
Rhinehart, W. R., 312
Rhythm of Bernard, 302
Rice, Caroline L., 312
Rich, Mrs., 240
Richards, C. H., 557. 583
Richards, George, 423, 424
Richardson, R., 371
Ridsdale, C. J., 570
Rigdon, S., 432
Rigg, J. H., 223
ROey, Athelstan, 369
Riley, William, 344
Rimbault, E. F., 523, 527
Rinehart, W., 309
Ripley, T. B., 201
Rippon, John, 144, 143, 204, 259, 362,
373. 424
Rise and Progress (Doddridge), 211
Ritter, A., 271, 273
Ritter, F. L., 170, 378
Rivingtons, 341, 346
Rivulet, the, 454, 579
Rivulet Controversy, 434, 579
Robbins, C'nandler, 462, 463, 467, 468
Robbins, Samuel D., 468
Robertson, William, 153
Robertson, WilUam, 337
Robertson, William B., 531
Robinson, Charles S., 478, 479. 353. 554
Robinson, J. H., 309: John, loi
Robinson, Thomas, 330
Rockingham, Lady, 324
Rochester, N. Y., 477
Rocky Mountain Saints, 432, 433
Rogers, J., 371
Romaine, William, 126, 320, 329, 332, 342,
350
"Roman Cat'nolic Hymns," 475; and see 577
Romantic Hxirmal; see Hymnal
Romantic Movement, 45, 43Sff.
Romney, 343
Root, George F., 479. 484
Rorison, G., 516
Roscoe, June, 140
Roscoe, William, 140
Roscoe, William S., 140
Roscommon, Earl of, 227
Ross, Jas. H., 4S0, 483
Ross, W., 433
Rossall School, 443
Rossetti, Christina G., 568
Rothwell, 104, 105, 106
Rous's Psalms, 57, 60
"Rous's Version," 47, 178, I79. 183. 184.
188, 189, 190, 191, 193. 533
Rous-V/atts Controversy in America, i86fif.
Rousseau, W. W., 547
Row, \Valter, 333, 334
Rowland, L. P., 484
Royal Hymnal, 513
Rugby School, 445
Rudiments of Music, 193
Rule, Britannia, 328
Rupp, D., 305, 306
Russell, A. T., 507
Russell, Thomas, 128
Rutherford (tune), 527
Ryland, John, 215
Ryle, J. C. S19
6i8
INDEX
S. p. C. K., prayer books, 349; hymnals,
506, S16, S17
Sabbath Hymn [and Tune] Book, 365, 47S.
476, 477. 544
Sabbath school: see Sunday School
Sabbath school and social Hymn Book, 406
Sacramental Hymnody: see Baptismal,
Communion; Anglican, 498, 514, S70
Sacramental Hymns (Boyse), 87, 100, lOS
Sacred Hymns (Wilson), 545
Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Mor-
mon), 432
Sacred Hymns and Tunes (Wesl. Meth.), 310
Sacred Hymns for the Children of Cod
(Cermick), 316
Sacred Hymns for the use of Religious So-
cieties (Cennick), 317
Sacred Hymns from the Cerman (Cox),
S07
Sacred Hymns on various subjects (Murhn),
254
Sacred Lyrics (Beman), 384
(Edmeston), 436
Sacred Melodies for social worship, 301
Sacred Melody (Wesley), 240, 241
Sacred Poetry (Belknap), 174. 176, 214,
396, 397, 411
(Eddowis), 424
Sacred Poetry and Music reconciled, 460
Sacred Poetry selected and recommended, 371
Sacred Songs (Moore), 435
Sacred Songs and Hymns (Stewart), 154
(Relief), 155, 156, S30
Sacred Songs and Solos, 486
Sacred Songs for public worship (Savage),
472
Sacrifice of the Heart, 312
Sacrifice of Praise, 553
St. Alban (tune), 553
St. Alban's, Holbom, 504
St. Alban's Tune Book, 504
St. Andrews, Presbytery of, S34
St. Fulbert (tune), 553
St. John, A. R., 468
St. Leonard (tune), 527
S. Margaret's Hymnal, 502
St. Peter (tune), 553
Saint's Harp, 410
Saints' Days, hymns for, 499, 510, 511, S68
Saints, Invocation of, 570
Saint's Melody. 147, 335
Saintsbury, George, 115
Salem, Mass., 471
Salisbury Collection, 133, 174
Salisbury Hymnal, 509
Salter's Hall controversy, 130
Salvation Army, 252, 485
Salvation Soldier's Hymn Book, 485
Sandeman, Robert, 326
Sandemanians, 156, 326
Sanders, William, 276, 277
Sandys, George, 48
Sankey, Ira D., 485, 486, 487, 4S8, 490,
491, 492
Sarum and York Primers, 38
Sarum Breviary, 39, 503, 504, 570
Sarum Hymnal, 68, 513
Sarum Primer, 38
Sarum use, 514
Savage, M. J., 472
Savannah, Ga., 225
Savoy Conference, 82ff.
Saylor, J. M., 314
SchafT. Philip, 553
Scheffler, J., 266
Schelling, Felix E., v, 253
Schmucker, B. M., 560
Schmucker, S. S., 416
Scholar's Purgatory, 30
School Hymnal, 555
School of Watts, 210, 145
Schweinitz, Edmund de, 21
Scotch Irish in America, 178
Scotland, Church of:
as Psalm singers, 22, 25, 26
Wedderbum episode, 26
1564-1649, the old Psalter and its hymns,
32
1644-1650, the new Psalter, 56
1689-1708, movement toward para-
phrases, 56
1741-1781, Translations and Paraphrases,
147
1811-1820, agitation for enlarging the
Psalmody, 159
1845-1861, renewal of agitation for
hymns, 531
1861, hymns authorized, 532
1866-1915, the new Hymnody, 534, 535,
541-543
influence of the Moderate party on
Hymnody, 153
influence of the liturgical party on
Hymnody, 534, 540
the organ question, 486, 533
Scots Old Independents, 156
Scott, J. W., 294
Scott, Orange, 296
Scott, Thomas, 140
Scott, W., 371
Scott, Sir Walter, 435, 438, 439, 451, 533
Scottish Baptists, 157
Scottish Congregationalists, 1755-1814,
156. 157
1849-1903, 459, 460
Scottish Hymnal, 535, 537. 538, 540, 542
Scottish hymn writers, 537
Scottish Metrical Psalter of A. D. 1635
(Livingston), 33, 36
Scottish Paraphrases (Maclagan), 57, 58,
59, 148, 151, 152. 154
Scottish Psalter and its hymns (1564),
32-37: Scottish Psalter, 537
Scottish Secession, 153, 154
Scripture: as the authority for Congrega-
tional Song, 23
as the source of congregational songs, 23
Watts raises the issue, 112
"Scripture Songs" (Scotland), 57-59, 74,
I47fl.
Scudder, M. L., 296
Seagrave, Artis, 423
Scagrave, Robert, 317
Search, the, 436
Sears, E. H., 468
Seasonable Thoughts on the stale of religion
in New England, 164
Secession, Scottish, 153, 154
Second Advent Band, 429
Second Collection of Hymns (Moravian),
264, 26s
Secular tunes, 310, 327, 378, 379. 4i7
Sedgwick, Daniel, vi, 260, 317. 3i9, 324
Seekers, the, 293
Seiss, J. A., 418
Selborne, Lord, vii, 69, 446
Select Collection of Hymns to be universally
sung in Countess of Huntingdon's
Chapels. 322, 323, 324
Select Collection of new and original Spiritual
Songs (Barclay), 158
Select Hymns (Wesley), 236, 240, 286
(Worcester), 374
Select Hymns, adapted to Baptist denomi-
nation, 363
Select Hymns from Mr. Herbert, 66, lOS
Select metrical Psalms (Prot. Episc), 545
Select Poetry, chiefly devotional, 64
Select portions of Psalms and Hymns, 353
INDEX
619
Select Psalms and Hymns (Simpson), 335
Select Psalms and Hymns for Mr. Ad-
gate's pupils, 193
Selection of evangelical Hymns supplemen-
tary to Rippon. 201
Selection of Hymns (Francis), 146
Selection of Hymns accommodated to the
service (Biddulph), 352
Selection of Hymns adapted for divine wor-
ship (Anderson), 146
Selection of Hymns adapted to the devotions,
etc. (Alexander), 382
Selection of Hymns adapted to public wor-
ship (Glassite), 156
Selection of Hymns and Poems (McNemar),
428
Selection of Hymns and Psalms (Dodge), 201
Selection of Hymns and Psalms for social
and private worship (Dabney), 177
Selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs
(Parkinson), 201, 202, 203
Selection of Hymns by Sir Edward Dennv,
SO?
Selection of Hymns designed as a Supple-
ment (Boardman), 544
Selection of Hymns for Baptist congrega-
tions, 146, 452
Selection of Hymns for Christian Worship
(Thorn), 449
Selection of Hymns for conference and
prayer meetings (Ripley), 201
Selection of Hymns for public and private
worship (Ger. Refd.), 549
(Wallace), 137
Selection of Hymns for public worship
(Alexander), 459
(Gadsby), 146, 147
(Wardlaw), 157
Selection of Hymns for social religious meet-
ings (Henshaw), 398, 401
Selection of Hymns for use of Protestant
dissenting congregations in Leeds, 128
Selection of Hymns for worship (Stilwell),
306
Selection of Hymn from best authors (Rip-
pon), 144, 14s, 204, 259, 362, 373, 424
Selection of Hymns from various authors
(Dunker), 368
(Meth.), 289
Selection of Hymns of peculiar metre (Jay),
128
Selection of more than three hundred Hymns
(Winchell), 204. 362, 363
Selection of Psalms (Dodsworth), 500
Selection of Psalms for social worship
(Cappe), 134
Selection of Psalms and Hymns (Carpenter),
13s
(House), 135
(Kemble), 506
(Milman), 443
(Stowell), 518
Selection of Psalms and Hymns from New
\'ers!on and others (Noel), 353
Selection of Psalms and Hymns for public
and private use (Cottcrill), 353; 8th
ed., 355, 356
Selection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian
Worship (Greenwood), 461, 463
Selection of Psalms and Hymns for public
worship (1820), 355
Selection of Psalms and Hymns for Uni-
tarian worship (Aspland), 135
Selection of Psalms and Hymns . . . of
Philadelphian Association, 200
Selection of sacred Harmony, 192
Selection of sacred Poetry (Eddowes), 176
Selection of Spiritual Songs (Robinson), 554
Selections from the ■ Psalms of David in
metre with Hymns (Prot. Episc), 401
Sentimental note, the, 214
Separatists; their attitudes toward congre-
gational singing, 91
Sequences, 502
Sermons and Devotions (Pestell), 68
Sermon at Installation of John Todd, 181
Sermons (Buist), 194
(Watts), 121
Service and worship, 587, 589, 590
Service Book (Andrews), 402
Services of Song, 484
Seventh-day Advent Hymn and Tune Book,
430
Seventh-day Adventists, 430
Seventh-day Baptists, 100
Sewall, Frank, 563, 564
Sewall, H. F., 176, 177
Shairp, Principal, 537
Shaker Music, 428
Shakers, the, 427, 428
Shakespeare, 450
Sheffield, 355
Shelley, P. B., 435, 436, 450
Shepard, S. E., 371
Shepherd, Thomas, 88, 105
Sherburne School, 44s
Sherman, D., 284
Shipley, Orby, 44
Shirley, Walter, 322, 323
Short History of the English People, 256
Short Hvmns on select Passages (C. Wesley),
235
Short Introduction to Music (Wesley), 242
Shorter Elizabethan Poems, 65
Shrewsbury, Mass., 166
Shuey, W. A., 312. 313
Sidney, Sir Philip, and Sister, 47
Sigoumey, Lydia H., 363, 385
Silent Long, 455
Silex scintillans (Vaughan), 67
Simeon, Charles, 352, 355
Simeon, Charles, Life of, 352, 355
Simeon Trust, 352
Simpson, David, 335
Simpson, J. Holt, 500
Sinclair, Sir William, 157
Singers, 242
Singers and Songs of the Church, 317, 321,
453
Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 469
Singing, see Congregational Singing
Singing, Controversie of, 91-103, 107, 161,
196
Singing Master's Assistant, 169
Singing Men and Women, 243
Singing of Psalms a Gospel Ordinance, 102
Singing Psalms, the, 341, 342, 390, 392
Singing Schools and classes, 170, 192, 193,
242, 378, 406
Sion's Harmony of Praise, 14s
Sion's Melody, 146
Sion's Songs (Berridge), 331
Six Centuries of select Hymns, 61, 105
Skeats, H. S., 130
Sketches of North Carolina, 189
Sketches of Virginia. 181, 189
Small Hymn Book (Prim. Meth.), 276, 277
Smart, Henry, 527, 531
Smith, Elias, 296. 366
Smith, Elias, Life of, by Himself, 296
Smith, Emma, 431
Smith, H. W., 393
Smith, I. Gregory, SI7
Smith, Sir J. E., 140
Smith, Joseph, 191
Smith, Joseph, "The Seer," 431
Smith, Joshua. 202, 204
Smith, Samuel F., 364. 3(>5. 3T9. 41"
Smith, William, 390, 391, 392. 393. 394. 395
Smith, William, Life of (Smith), 393
620
INDEX
Smyth, John, 91, lOl
Smythan, George H., 516
Snepp, Charles B., 513
Social and Camp Meeting Songs, 295
Social democracy, the Hymnody of, 584!!.
Social Hymn and Tune Book, 385
Social Hymn Book (Robbins), 462, 465
"Social" hymn books, 294, 299, 300
"Social" [the new] Hymnody, 492, 587
Social Hymns of Brotherhood and Service,
586, S87
Social Psalmist, 384
Social Service, the Hymnody of, 582, 585,
586, S87
Society for promoting Church music, 520
Soldier's Hymn Book, 483
Soldier's Pocket Book, 483
Solitary Hours (Southey), 436
Solomon's Temple spiritualized, 98
Some other Hymns and Poems (Mor.), 264
Some Principles of Hymn Singing, 448
Some Scriptural Hymns (Forbes), 149
Some Thoughts concerning the present Re-
vival, 164
Sommers and Daggs edition of Watts and
Rippon, 204
Song books, Elizabethan, 65
Song of Solomon, paraphrased, 55, 71
Song of Moses, 34
Song Pilgrimage around the World, 485, 486
Songs and Hymns of Earliest Creek Poets, S05
Songs by the way (Doane), 400
Songs controversial, 579
Songs for the new Life, 474
Songs for the Sanctuary (Robinson), 302, 479
Songs of Canaan, 296
Songs of the Christian Life (Richards), 583
Songs of Christian Praise (Richards), 557
Songs of the Church (Robinson), 478
Songs of Grace and Glory, 513
Songs of the Spirit, 159
Songs of Syon (Woodward), 570
Songs of Zion (Haverhill), 296
(Summers), 299
(Montgomery), 436
Sonneck, O. G., 170. 184, i8s, 192
Sotheby's, 116
Southampton, 113
Southey, Caroline Bowles, 436
Southey, Robert, 267, 436, 438, 439
Southwell, Robert, 64
Southwestern Psalmist, 365
Spaeth, A., 560
Spangcnberg, A. G., 264, 271
Spayth, H. C., 312, 313
Special Report to General Assembly, 38s
Spectator (Addison's), 152, 210, 394
Spectator (London), 450, 569
Spence, R., 238, 287
Spencer, Mass., 165
Spicer, Mr., 192, 193
Spirit of XIX Century. 383
Spirit of the Psalms, 444
Spiritual Melody (Keach), 100
"Spiritual Songs," 201, 202, 203, 298, 362
Spiritual Songs (Hastings and Mason), 379,
477
(J. Mason), 71, 105: (Ryle), 519
(Symson), 58, 59
Spiritual Songs for Church and Choir, 556
Spraguc, Charles, 468
Sprague, William B., 177
Springfield Collection, 461, 463
Sproat, James, 183
Sprott, G. W., 35, 532
Spurgeon, Charles H., 14s, 452
Stanford, John, 200
Stanley, Dean, 447
Staughton, William, 201
Stebbins, George C, 487, 490
Steele, Anne, 144, 213, 214, 375, 397, 519
Steele, Anne, Works of, 214
Steele, Robert, 55
Steiner, Melchior, 281
Stenhouse, T. B. H., 432, 433
Stennett, Joseph, 89, 100, loi, 144, 206
Stennett, Samuel, 215
Stephenson, T. B., 255
Steps to the Temple, 67
Stemhold and Hopkins; see Old Version
Stevens, Abel, 282, 284, 294, 295, 296, 298
Stevens, John, 146
Stevenson, George J., 221, 237, 278
Stevenson, W. Fleming, 540
Steuart, James, 154, 155
Steward, Joseph, 168
Stewart, James T., 312
Stewart, Sir R. P., 539
Stilwell, W. M., 306
Stockton, John H., 312
Stockton, T. H., 308, 309
Stone, Barton W., 296, 370, 371
Stone, Barton W., Biography of, 371
Stone Lectures, vii
Stone, Samuel J., 516
Story of the Carol, 20
Story of the Gospel Hymns, 487
Story of the Pilgrim Fathers, 92
Stoughton, John, 212
Stow, Baron, 364
Stowe, Harriet B., 464
Stowell, Hugh, 518
Stowell, Thomas A., 519
Strassburg, 31
Stratton, Lovie R., 312
Strebeck, George, 412, 413
Streeter, S. and R., 425
Stretton, Henry, 500
Strictures on Hymns ancient and modern, 510
Strong, Nathan, 167, 373, 374, 375
Stroud, William, 76
Struthers, G., 156
Stryker, M. W., 557
Studies in Worship Music, 90, 103, 152, 243,
273, 456, 486, 488, 529
Studies of Familiar Hymns, 365
Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 506
Summary View of Millenial Church, 427
Summers, Thomas O., 299, 311
Sumner, Samuel B., 468
Sunday School: see Children's Hymns: de.
velopment of the lighter type of S. S.
Hymnody, 484, 491; the song books,
484; in England, 48s; in Ireland, the
schools carry hymn singing into the
churches, 539; their part in the lit-
urgical development, 345
Sunday school Hymn Book (Pray), 461
Sunday School Union, 483
Sundav Service, the (Wesley), 236, 238,
28'2, 283, 284, 286, 288
Sunday, William A., 491
Supplement (Reed), 128
Supplement of Hymns (New Church), .529
Supplement to Methodist Collection (1831),
23s, 275
Supplement to the New Version of Psalms,
SI, 80, 239, 341, 343. 345. 346, 390,
393, 394
Supplement to the Psalmist, 365
Supplemental Hymns (Allon), 456, 525
Sursum Corda, 559, 580
Survey, the, 586
Swain, Joseph, 215
Swan, Timothy, 170
Swedenborg, 426
Swedcnborgian Hymnody; see New Church
Sweet Singer of Israel, 297
Swertner, John, 270, 273
Swiss Psalmody, 46, 55
INDEX
621
Symmes, Thomas, 161
Symonds. J. A., 583
Sjinson, Patrick, 58, 59, 60
Tabernacle Collection, 157
Tans'ur, William, 169
Tappan, William B., 376
Tate and Brady: see New Version
Tate, Nahum, 48, 206: see New Version
Tauler, J., 223
Taunton, 161
Taylor, Ann and Jane, 436
Taylor, Caleb J., 29S
Taylor, Emily, 140
Taylor, James, 176
Taylor, Jeremy, 68
Taylor, John, 140
Taylor, John (Mormon), 432, 433
Taylor, John J., 140
Taylor, William, 322
Te Deum, viii, 28, 36, 77, 86, 531
Telford, John, 220, 230, 231, 23S. 237, 240
Temple, the (London), 75
Temple, the (Herbert), 67
Temple Church Hymn Book, 513
Temple Melodies, 473
Tennent, Gilbert, 164, 182
Tennessee, Lutheran Synod of, 415
Tennyson, Lord, 64. 568
Terrill, Edward, 96, 99
Thanksgiving after the Lord's Supper, 29,
31. 34. 84
Theistic, Hymnody, 450, 466
Theodosia, 213
Thesaurus Hymnologicus (Daniel), $02
Thom, John H., 449, 450
Thomas, Abel C, 42s
Thompson, A. R., SSO
Thompson, John B., 406, 550
Thompson, N. L., 474
Thought of God in Hymns and Poems, 472
Thoughts on proposed alterations, 399
Thoughts on singing of Psalms and An-
thems, 396
Thring, G., 446, 447, Si7
Tillett, W. F., 303, 304
Tindal's Continuation of Rapin's History,
31S
Tinkering: see Hymn Tinkering
Todd, H. J., 3S6, 3S7
Todd, John, 181
Toke, Emma, 51S
Toleration Act, 320
Tomkins, Martin, 131
Toplady, Augustus M., 247, 2SS. 323, 332,
333. 334. 335
Toplady, Augustus M. (Wright), 331, 568
Tourjee, Eben, 309, 484
Towgood, M., 132
Towle, E. A., 501
Towner, 487
Townsend, J. W., 237
Tractate on Music, 86
Tracts for the Times, 494, 498, 514, 548
Traheme, Thomas, 66
Translations and Paraphrases: 174S, 148;
1781, 151, 147-154, 160. 2i6, 531, S33,
536
Treasury of American Sacred Song, 458
Treatise on Baptism, 98
Tribute of Praise, 309
Trochaic metres, 7, 39, 254
Tropes and Figures, 98
True Psalmody, the, 383
True Story of John Smyth, 91
Trueman, D., 309
Truth soberly defended, 98, 99
Truth's Defence against the Serpent, 95
Tucker, J. I., 546, 547
Tucker, W. J., 557
Tunes: Anglican, 521, 522, 523, 524
Billings', 169
Camp-meeting, 293, 294
choir, 387. 407. 471, 479. 547
common, 184
devil's, 294
Dykes', 521
in English Hymnal, 569
florid, 239, 240, 330, 373
"fuguing," 170, 171, 239, 344
Genevan, 448
German (chorales), 22, 239, 270, 273, 560
Gregorian, 39, 503, 504, 521, 569
of Hymns ancient and modern, 521-524,
553
"Lancashire hornpipes," 239,
Mason (Lowell), type of, 378
Monk's, 52 1
Moody and Sankey, 486, 487, 491
Music Hall, 298, 487
New Version, 80, 239
"old Methodist," 240
Old Version, 75, 76, 239, 520
parlor music, 387, 557, 573
printed in the hymn book, 21, 471, 477,
S08
proper, 29
in Presbyterian Hymnal (1874), 553
in Psalms and Hymns for divine worship,
527
with Refrains, 484
Secular, 240, 310, 327, 377, 378, 379, 417
Shaker, 428
Spirituals (Negro), 294, 307
Sunday school, 484
Wesley's view of, 239
Tumes in three parts (Philada., 1763), 184
Tunkers: see Dunkers
Turner, D., 144, 213
Turner, E., 424
Turner, H. M., 306
Tuttiett, L., S16
Twells, H., 516
Twenty-six Letters on Religious Subjects, 337
Two Bookes of Ayres, 65
Two Centuries of select Hymns, 61, 71, 77
Tye, C, 55
Tyerman, L., 221, 222, 232, 264, 266, 269,
316, 317,319. 359
Tyng, Dudley A., 401
Tyng, Stephen H., 401
U
Ulster, 539
Underwoods, 64
Uniformity Acts, 103, 126, 354
"Union," 483
Union Collection of Hymns, 436, 451
Union Prayer Meeting Hymns, 483
Unitarians: England: 1719-1837, Rise of a
Unitarian Hymnody, 88, 130-142
1840-1876, the Martineau period, 449-
451
Ireland: 133, 135
United States: 1753-1823, Early period,
172-177 . , ,
1830-1864, Literary period, 460-470
1861-1894, the theistic trend, 470-473
1914, recent Hymnody, 578
Hymn Writers: English, 139-141
American, 468-470
Unitas Fratrum, 21, 262, 269
United Brethren: see Moravians
United Brethren in Christ; 1826-1890,
312-314
United Methodist Church, 279
United Methodist Free Churches, 278
United Presbyterian Church (Scot.), iS4.
530
622
INDEX
United Presbyterian Magazine, 542
United Secession Church, 530
Unity Hymns, 472
Universal Baptists, IQQ, 367
Universal Redemption, hymn on, 232
Universalism in America, 423, 424
Universalism in Gloucester, Mass., 421,
424
Universalisl's Hymn Book (London), 422
(Boston), 424
Universalists: England, 327, 422
United States: 1776-1849, the Earlier
period, 327, 421-425
1846-1895, the later period, 481, 482
University Hymn Book, 134
Uppingham School, 44s
Upton, George P., 170
Upton, James, 146
Urania, 184
Uranian Academy, 192
Uranian Instructions, 193
Urban Vlllth's Breviary, 496
Utah, 432
Vacant Chair and other Poems, 365
Vail, Silas J., 484
Van Alstyne, Mrs. (Fanny Crosby), 312
487. 559
Van Home, D., 410
Varden, J., 309
Vaughan, Henry, 65, 67: C. J., 44S
Vaux. J. E., 514
Venite, 28, 29, 36
Venn, John, 320, 352
Vermilye, A. G., 550
Vernacular hymns, 20, 21
Version of the Book of Psalms (Charleston),
193
Very, Jones, 464, 468
Vespers, hymns at, 43
Vestry Harmonies, 481
Village Hymns, 366, 375, 376, 386
Vincent, John H., 485
Vindication of the Dissenters, 86
Vine, A. H., 25S
Virgin, hymns to the, 19, 38, 44, 499,
510, 570
Virginia, 181, 189, 203
Virginia Selection, 203
Vocal Melody (Isaac), 243
Voice of Praise, 309
W
Waddington, J., 103
Waite, J. J., 522
Wales, 196, 232, 324
Walker, Edward, 507
Walker, George, 134, 14O
Walker, George L., 374
Walker, Williston, 326
Wallace, J. C. 139
Wallace, Robert, 137
Waller, Life of, 440
Wallin, Benjamin, 213
Wallis, James, 189
Walpole, Horace, Letters of, 324
Walter, Thomas, 161
Walton's Lives, 64
Walworth Hymns, 215
War with the Powers of Darkness, 100
Ward, A. H., 166
Ward, J, H., 393
Ward, W. C, 44
Wardlaw, Ralph, 157
Wardlaw, Ralph, Memoirs of, 157
Ware, Henry jr., 141, 175, 468
Waring, Anna L., 519
Warren, Samuel, 278
Warren, WiUiam P., 312
Warton's History of English Poetry, 55
Washburn, H. S., 36s
Washburn, I. jr., 482
Washington, George, 423
Waters, Horace, 484
Waterston, R. C, 461, 468
Water vliet, 427
Watson, John, 269
Watts, Enoch, 106, 113
Watts, Isaac: personality, 108, 206
youthful hymn writing, 108, 113
Horae Lyricae (1706), 114
on current psalm singing, 107
attack on Scriptural Psalmody, 109, in,
217
proposed substitute, no, 118, 120, 121,
205, 207, 217
1. Christianized psalms, 53, in, 120,
206
2. Evangelical hymns, 112
argument for hymns, 112
Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), 63,
71, 72, 89, 90, 115. 118
rarity of first Edition, 116
copyright, 118
reception of, 122, 123, 130, 143, 219
changes of text, 116, 117, 128, 131,
132
American reprints, 162
"Essay toward the Improvement of
Psalmody," 116, 117
Divine Songs (17 IS). 120, 121
Psalms of David imitated (1719), 118, 119
character of, in, 119, 120
reception of, 90, 123
American reprints, 162
Accommodated to America, 166, 186
Barlow's rescension of, 167
Dwight's rescension of, 167
Sermons (1721-1727), 121
Reliquiae Juveniles (1734), 121
Remnants of Time, 121
Works of, 117
Posthumous Works of, 122
Dr. Watts's Fourth Book of Spiritual
Hymns, 121, 128
Watts's Psalms and Hymns, 121, 124, 125
Dobell's Edition, 121, 128; Burder's,
127; Williams', 128; Rippon's, 204
American reprints, 163; Winchell's
Watts, 204; Worcester's, 108; re-
prints of Rippon's, 204
their use, and influence on hymn
singing (216)
In England, among Independents,
122-130
Presbyterians, 130
Arians, 130
Particular Baptists, 143
Scotland, 147, 148
America, among Congregational-
ists, 162-166
Presbyterians, 177-196
Baptists, 198, 199, 204
"Watts Entire," 129, 168, 176, ib2, 364
"Watts and select," 168, 475
"Supplements to Watts," 124, 126-129,
144, 168, 201, 204, 211
"Watts' Whims," 126
Waning of his influence, 129, 458
His hymns: precedents, 70-72, 87, in,
121, 205, 206
form, metres and style, 207, 208
doctrine, 209
as related to poetry, 114, 115
as a new type, 207-216
as a model for imitators, 211-216
as sermon illustrations, 143, 208
INDEX
623
His Estimate of his own work, 120
change of theological views, 118, 131,
132
lack of sympathy with evangelism, 213
work compared with the Wesleys',
256-258
name in the Dunciad, 221
Watts, Isaac: Life, Times and Correspond-
ence of (Milner), 106, 113, 123. 132
Watts, Isaac: his life and writings (Hood),
IIS
Watts, Isaac, Memoirs of (Gibbons), 113,
122, 124
Watts, Isaac, and Doddridge, Philip, Me-
moirs of (Belknap), 132
[Watts, Isaac] The Poet of the Sanctuary
(Conder), 89, 129
Weaver, Richard, 485
Webb, Benjamin, 514
Wedderbums, the, 26, 33
Wedderburns and their Work, 26
Welcome, the, 564
Wellington School, 44s, 446
Welsh Baptists, 196
Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, 232, 324
Welsh Tract, 197
Wesley, Charles: his birth, 220
his training, 220, 252
at Oxford, 222 (Holy Club)
conversion, 228
in Georgia, 223
high church period, 223, 226
Evangelistic labors, 228, 230
his diary, 229
a churchman to the end, 245, 251
as devotional poet. 253
as poet of Methodism, 220, 226, 228,
230, 234
as hymn writer, 23$, 245
his hymns: first hymns, 220, 229
their number, 235, 245, 246
their metres, 254
their autobiographical character, 248,
250
their revision by John, 247
their relation to the Hymn of Ex-
perience, 248
their publication as a whole, 246
Moravian influence on, 268
his independent publications, 234
his poetry not appreciated, 257
his memory neglected, 24s, 259
his influence on hymn writing, 254
Wesley, Charles, as seen in his less familiar
poetry (Bird), 253
Wesley, Charles, Life of (Jackson), 222,
223, 235, 245, 268
Wesley, Charles, Life of (Telford), 220,
235. 240
Wesley, Charles, jr., 325
Wesley, Emilia, 221
Wesley Family, Memorials of (Stevenson),
221
Wesley, John: his birth, 220
his training, 220, 252
at O.^ord (Holy Club), 222
Conversion, 228
mystical period, 223, 229
high church period, 223, 226
in Georgia, 211, 223
introduces hymn singing, 225, 228
a student of hymns, 225
revision of his brother's, 247
the leader in Methodist Hymnody, 220,
239
ridicules parochial psalmody, 222
admires Dr. Watts, 211, 223, 226, 227
meet's the Moravians, 224
as translator of German hymns, 246
as a churchman, 251
his first hymn book (1737), 220, 226
his second hymn book (1738), 227
his Moravian period, 227, 228, 263
his sacramental views, 234, 251
his theology 232, 244, 248
his sermons, 224, 244
his hymn books, 235-238
his musical books, 239, 240
as Editor, 247
as music master, 239, 241, 242
his famous preface, 231, 236, 247, 253, 319
his liturgical tastes, 251
as founder of Methodist Church, 244
his new standard of Hymnody, 252
on hymn tinkering, 247
and Whitefield, 228, 232, 315, 318, 358
and the Moravians, 227, 228, 263, 267
effect of his death, 274
Wesley, John, Journal of, 223, 224, 225,
226, 227, 231, 241, 256, 263, 268
Wesley, John, The Churchmanship of, 223
Wesley (John), Life of; and rise and progress
of Methodism (Southey), 267
Wesley, John, Life and times of (Tyerman),
222, 232, 269
Wesley, Joh}i, Works of, 224
Wesley, John and Charles:
their joint publications, 229, 230, 231,
232, 234
their undetermined authorship, 230, 231,
246
the hymn tracts, 232-234
obscurity of their work, 256, 258
compared with that of Watts, 257, 258
general ignorance of it outside, 261
"J. C. W.," 261
Wesley, John and Charles, Poetical Works
of, 227, 231, 235, 246
Wesley, John and Charles, Works of; a
Bibliography, 226, 229, 230, 236, 237,
269, 281, 282
Wesley, Mehetabel, 221
Wesley, Samuel, 220, 221, 222, 224
on parochial psalmody, 221
Maggots, 220
Life of our blessed Lord, 221
Pious Communicant, 221
Athenian Oracle, 221
Advice to a young clergyman, 222
Epistle to a friend on poetry, 252
Wesley, Samuel, Life and limes of (Tyer-
man), 221
Wesley, Samuel, jr., 221, 224
Wesley, S. S., 521
Wesleyan Hymns, the: their sources, 221,
223, 224, 225, 227, 268
as connected with the Revival, 229, 230,
249
as connected with religious history, v, 244
as enlarging the body of hymns, 24s
as affecting the ideal of the hymn, 247-
254
as affecting hymn smging, 220, 256
as affecting hymn writing, 254
as embodied in the Collection of 1780, 236
as ill adapted to use outside, 257
as slowly gaining any such use, 258, 259
general ignorance of them, 259-261
their relation to worship, 249
as a manual of spiritual discipline, 249
as related to revival hymns, 248
compared with Watts' System of Praise,
246, 252, 257
Wesleyan Methodism: The "New Room,"
228
"United Society," 229
the Revival, 229, 230
the schism of the Calvinists, 232
hymn books for Methodists, 235
Wesleyan Hymnody to 1904, 237
624
INDEX
Methodist Singing, 239, 242
Methodist tunes, 239, 240, 241
Methodist hymn writers, 254
Methodist organs, 243
as a connexion, 274
Schisms at Wesley's death, 274
Wesleyan Hy?nnal, 310
Wesleyan Hymnology (Burgess), 246, 250,
259
Wesleyan Methodist Association, 278
Wesleyan Methodist Connection, 310
Wesleyan Methodist Hymnal, 310
"Wesleyan Music," 294
Wesleyan Psalmist, 297
Wesleyan Reformers, 279
Wesleyan Sacred Harp, 300
West Church, Boston, 173, 174, 177
West, Robert A., 311
Western Revival, 294
Westminster, Mass., 165
Westminster Assembly, 60, 102; Directory,
178
Westminster Abbey Hymn Book, 447
Wharton, C. H., 390, 393
Wharton, Francis, 545
What's it all about? 455
Wheatley, Charles, 56
Wheatley. R., 301
White, G. Cosby, 509
White, John, 164
White, Kirke, 436
White, William, 108
White, Bishop William, 390-396, 399
White, William, Life of (Ward), 393
White, William, Memoir of (Wilson), 398
Whitefield, George:
In America, 163, iSo, 182, 280, 358, 492
his admiration for Watts, 163, 316, 359
starts American era of Watts, 359
relations with Wesleys, 228, 232, 315,
318. 358
the Calvinistic leader, 315, 358
relations with Lady Huntingdon, 318, 319
his hymn book, 318, 359
his influence on hynm singing, 316,
Whitefield, George, Life of (Tyerman), 232,
316, 317,319, 359
Whitefield, George, Meynoir of (Gillies), 359
Whitefield, George, Works of, 359
Whiting, William, 516
Whitmarsh, Caroline, 465
Whitney, F. A., 468
Whittier, J. G., 464, 579
Whittingham, William, 27, 28, 55
Whittle, D. W., 486
Whole Booke of Psalms (1562), 28
(Ravenscrof t) , 56, 76
(Pla\'ford), 77
(Prot. Episc), 395
Whytehead, Thomas, 516
Wiatts' impartial Selection, 294
Widney, S. W., 309
Wigram, J. N., 507
Willard, Samuel, 460, 464, 468
William and Mary, 85, 390
William III, 48
Williams, Aaron, 169
Williams and Boden's Collection, 12S
Williams, Benjamin, 133, 140
Williams, Helen M., 140
Williams, Isaac, 495. 496, 499, Si4
Williams, Isaac, Autobiography of, 495
Williams. J. B., 86
Williams, John, 543: William, 324
Williams, Mrs. Tlieodore C, 472
WiUison, John, 149
Williston, Ralph, 413
Wilson, Bird, 398
Wilson, Frederick, 545: J. G., 414
Wilson, J. P., 195
Wilson, W., 89, 123, 126
Winchell, J. M., 204, 362, 363
Winchester, C. T., 312
Winchester, Elhanan, 199, 367, 422, 423
Windham (tune), 170
Winebrenner, John, 369
Wing, C. P., 191
Winkworth, Catherine, 507
Win-nowed Hymns, 301
Wisdom, R., 31
Wither, George, 30, 31, 47, 65, 206, 251
Wolfe, A. R., 557
Wonders of Grace, 213
Wood, N. E., 196, 197, 198: W., 133
Wood and Carpenter Abridgment of Walts,
133
Woodbury, I. B., 310
Woodd, Basil, 350, 35 1. 352, 354
Woodford, J. R., 517
Woodford, Samuel, 88
Woodward, G. R., 570
Worcester, Mass., 165, 166, 464
Worcester, Samuel, 168, 374, 37s
Worcester, Samuel, Life of, 1C8
Worcester, Samuel M., 168
Worcester's Watts' and select, 168, 383, 384,
386, 380
Wordsworth, Christopher, 447, 516
Wordsworth, William, 435, 436
Wor.ship, 387, 572, 573, 587-S90
Worship and Offices of the Church of Scot-
land, 35
Worship as an element of Sanctuary Service,
387
Worship in Song, 479
Worship Song, 457
Wreford, J. R., 139, 141
Wright, Thomas, 331, 568
Xavier, 543
Y
Yatlendon Hymnal, 448, 569
Year of Praise (Afford), 513
Young Man's Meditation, 69
Young Man's Mo7!itor, 69
York: Archbishop's Court, 355, 356, 357
Young, Brigham, 432
Y. M. C. A., 483, 484. 485, 490
Y. M. C. A. Hymn and Tune Book, 483
Young, Thomas, 323
Yule-tide, 19
Z
Zentler, Conrad, 272
Zinzendorf, Count L. von, 225, 262, 263,
264, 265, 266, 269, 271, 273, 323
Zinzendorf, Life of (Spangenberg), 264
Zion Songster, 296, 301
Zion's Harp, 376
Zundel, John, 474
Zurich Letters, 42
Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries
1 1012 01191 7095
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11